Key Takeaways
- BPI proposed selling the US's $3.4B cheese reserve to buy Bitcoin.
- The US holds 1.4 billion to 1.5 billion pounds of cheese in storage.
- President Trump's Strategic Bitcoin Reserve aims to expand US Bitcoin holdings.
The Bitcoin Policy Institute (BPI) has proposed that the US government sell its vast cheese reserves and use the proceeds to purchase Bitcoin.
In a post on X (formerly Twitter) on March 7, the BPI stated:
America should immediately liquidate its strategic cheese reserve and convert the proceeds into Bitcoin.
BPI argued that Bitcoin, not cheese, should be held in strategic reserves as a more valuable and resilient asset.
US Holds Over 1.4 Billion Pounds of Cheese
The US government currently stores between 1.4 billion and 1.5 billion pounds of cheese in cold storage, worth approximately $3.4 billion.
This stockpile exists due to federal policies aimed at stabilizing dairy prices and supporting farmers.
Mathew Sigel, head of research at VanEck, questioned the necessity of maintaining a cheese reserve and suggested replacing it with a neutral asset like Bitcoin.
US Bitcoin Reserve Strategy
This proposal follows President Donald Trump’s announcement of the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve, a program designed to expand the US government’s Bitcoin holdings. White House AI and Bitcoin Czar David Sacks clarified:
The US will not sell any bitcoin deposited into the Reserve. It will be kept as a store of value. The Reserve is like a digital Fort Knox for the cryptocurrency often called ‘digital gold.’
BPI’s Executive Director, Matthew Pines, suggested additional strategies for funding Bitcoin purchases, including using surplus US dollars, gold reserves, and privatization revenues.
