Philippines Proposes Bill to Create a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve Worth 10,000 BTC.
A new turning point in financial policy is taking place in the Philippines as Congressman Miguel Luis Villafuerte has just introduced House Bill 421, which aims to build a national Bitcoin reserve. According to the proposal, the Central Bank of the Philippines (Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas) will buy 2,000 BTC per year for 5 years, bringing the total holdings to 10,000 BTC. All of these Bitcoins will be stored in cold storage for at least 20 years to ensure safety and avoid the risk of intrusion.
Villafuerte stressed that the strong growth of Bitcoin globally is creating “strategic economic and financial power,” and that the Philippines being one step ahead by legalizing the issue will give the country an advantage in the increasingly fierce international competition.
A special feature of the bill is that during the holding period, the government is not allowed to sell or exchange Bitcoin, except for the purpose of paying off public debt. After the 20-year period ends, the Central Bank Governor is also only allowed to sell a maximum of 10% of the BTC in each 2-year period, to avoid causing market volatility.
If approved, the Philippines would join a group of countries that have designated Bitcoin as a strategic reserve asset, along with El Salvador, the first country to legalize Bitcoin as a national currency, and Bhutan, a secretive nation that has been accumulating BTC through renewable energy mining. The United States and China are also among the top countries with the largest Bitcoin holdings, largely through confiscated assets.
According to data from Bitbo, governments around the world are holding about 517,296 BTC, equivalent to 2.46% of the fixed total supply of 21 million Bitcoins. This number shows a clear trend: Bitcoin is gradually becoming a kind of "digital gold" in the national reserves of many countries.
Notably, the global landscape for cryptocurrencies is also changing rapidly. Since Donald Trump was re-elected and officially returned to the White House in late 2024, the US policy towards Bitcoin has become more open. Trump has repeatedly declared that he will turn the US into the “Bitcoin mining capital of the world” to ensure energy security and competitive advantage over China. This has further increased the pressure on other countries, including the Philippines, to have a clear strategy soon so as not to fall behind.
