Reject the SBR
Thoughts and a response to the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve
Note:
This is a warning, not a verdict. A Strategic Bitcoin Reserve sounds good. Until it isn’t. What government holds, it controls. What it controls, it bends.
History repeats. Power corrupts.
Question everything. Decide for yourself.
Bitcoin is freedom—only if kept that way.
"I don’t believe we shall ever have good money again before we take the thing out of the hands of government, that is, we can’t take them violently out of the hands of government, all we can do is by some sly, roundabout way introduce something that they can’t stop."
—F.A. Hayek, Interview, 1984
Government wants Bitcoin.
Many celebrate. It should scare you.
It's called a “Strategic Reserve”.
A national security vault. An inflation hedge. A tool to "Make America Great Again."
Sounds noble. But is it?
Bitcoin...
Built for individuals. Not government. Moment it takes control, game over.
2008—learn nothing?
Voluntary
Bitcoin is voluntary money.
No rules. No permission. No middlemen.
Doesn't need a legal framework. Doesn't seek approval. Doesn't beg for inclusion.
You want it. You get it. On your own.
Gold was similar. Then government captured it. Locked it away. Handed paper promises.
Lummis Bill promises not too. They will.
Control
1933, 6102. State steals gold.
1971, US broke a promise. Nixon closed the gold window. The dollar, fell to nihilism.
The Fed, suppose to stabilize. Printed instead. The dollar, obliterated.
The State doesn't adopt.
It absorbs. Manipulates. Destroys.
Trap
Imagine...
Treasury hoards Bitcoin.
Then, it dumps. The price collapses. Markets panic. Exchanges freeze. Fear spreads.
Sound far-fetched? Look at history.
Mt GOX, 2014 - Exchange collapses. Millions lost. Years of recovery.
China 2021 - A sudden mining ban. Bitcoin plunges. $64K to $29K.
Tesla, 2021 - Public BTC sell-off. Market-wide volatility.
Government doesn’t hold to secure. It holds to control.
One day, it hoards. Another day, it restricts. One executive order, and Bitcoin supply evaporates from the market.
They say it’s for national security. But what they mean is: control.
Weapon
Governments weaponize everything—oil, the dollar, sanctions. Why not Bitcoin?
Gold Confiscation (1933) – Executive Order 6102. They seized private gold to “stabilize the economy.”
Oil Supply Control – OPEC manipulates production. Prices swing. Nations destabilize.
SWIFT Sanctions – A financial system weaponized. Countries cut off from the global economy.
Bitcoin is a free market. Until it’s not.
A federal Bitcoin reserve isn’t an investment. It’s leverage.
Hold enough, and they command the price. Restrict access. Cut supply. Enforce KYC on everything.
Then comes the justification:
“Self-custody is a security risk.”
“Non-KYC Bitcoin enables crime.”
“We need oversight to protect national interests.”
No need to ban Bitcoin. Just make it impossible to use freely.
Manipulation
"The State says that it is the only agency that can and may use force. But in order to sustain its control over the people, it must engage in propaganda to induce popular support for its rule."
—Murray Rothbard, Anatomy of the State
The market is rigged.
Whales pump and dump. Corporations hoard and sell. Governments play the long game.
Saylor wrote a framework.
Power isn’t just in holding Bitcoin. It’s in controlling access.
ETFs concentrate it. Custodians gatekeep it. Mining pools centralize it.
And when the time is right?
Restrict self-custody. Enforce KYC. Tax transfers. Monitor wallets.
It’s not just about price. It’s about control.
Governments use money as a weapon. Bitcoin is the last escape.
If they can’t ban it, they’ll corral it. If they can’t kill it, they’ll domesticate it.
The only defense? Hold your keys. Run your node. Stay out of their reach.
Self-custody
Most don't hold their Bitcoin.
They trust exchanges. They trust custodians.
Imagine... A Bitcoin Bank Run.
System would break. Fees would skyrocket. Only the rich would custody.
The poor are already priced out of sovereignty. $1M Bitcoin, prices out many more.
"Use Lightning."
Promoted as a panacea. Not really.
90% of Lightning users rely on custodial wallets.
Hub centralization means transactions can be censored.
Regulatory pressure can force custodians to freeze funds.
Heard that before…
It’s traditional banking—just with a new name.
If self-custody isn’t viable at scale, Bitcoin isn’t decentralized money.
Bitcoin’s true sovereignty is the base layer.
High fees, government controlled infrastructure... coerces people to regulated, surveilled, custodial systems.
If it can be stopped, it’s not money.
Betrayal
They won't ban Bitcoin.
They might back the dollar with it. The Bitcoin-Dollar.
It'll sound good. "A sound money standard."
You won't use Bitcoin. The state will. You'll get a promise.
One day, they will break that promise.
Like they always do.
Against
"Bitcoin's too volatile."
"It destabilizes economies."
"It enables crime."
Sounds familiar?
Excuses to regulate. More control. More restrictions.
Then, only state-approved, controlled and rationed use.
That ain't Bitcoin. That's slavery.
It's already happening.
Making a "Bitcoin-friendly" state—take it with a grain of salt. Until realized, it's all vapor.
Hypocritical
Bitcoin-only.
Noble. But hypocritical.
Bitcoin thrives in a free market. Yet, maxis push for state favoritism.
They mock fiat control yet seek Bitcoin privilege.
Bitcoin wins on merit, not mandates.
If the state backs it, it can back another.
And if it can back one, it can control all.
Careful what you wish for.
Capture
Bitcoin is already captured.
Exchanges hold most. ETFs hoard more. Governments push regulation.
The block-size war showed: They’ll try to change the code.
The media shapes the narrative: "It’s volatile. It’s criminal. It’s dangerous."
So what happens?
People don’t use it. They store it in banks. They trust it on exchanges.
That’s capture.
Captured, but not conquered.
Bitcoin’s strength? Resistance.
Nodes. Self-custody. Cold storage. Peer-to-peer.
Every person who takes control weakens capture.
Sovereign States
If a Bitcoin reserve must exist, keep it at the state level.
States resist federal control. The federal government inflates, manipulates, and seizes. States have the right to financial independence.
A state-held Bitcoin reserve is self-sovereign:
They hold their own keys.
They control their own economic policy.
They resist federal manipulation.
A federal Bitcoin reserve strengthens D.C.—the very entity Bitcoin was designed to bypass.
Let Florida hold its own Bitcoin. Let Texas hold its own Bitcoin. Let Massachusetts hold its own Bitcoin.
Decentralized power is the key to freedom.
Equalizer
Bitcoin is a financial firearm.
Power balances when both sides hold it.
A government with Bitcoin? Dangerous.
A billion people with Bitcoin? Balance.
Like the internet, it evens the field. The small compete with the big. The weak resist the strong.
Firearms changed war. The internet changed information. Bitcoin changes money.
Governments know this. That’s why they want it.
Not to free. To control.
The moment they hold enough, they tilt the scales. You don’t get Bitcoin. You get permission.
That’s not balance. That’s submission.
Keep out
Bitcoin should not be in federal coffers. It should be in yours.
A billion individuals holding bitcoin is more powerful than any state reserve.
Decentralized sovereignty is the true strategic reserve.
Bitcoin is for the people. Not the state.
Reject the SBR.
Bitcoin saves. If kept out of the hands of the state.
"Money is one of the greatest instruments of freedom ever invented by man."
—F.A. Hayek, Denationalisation of Money
Rare Passenger / block height 880 723
great piece