Taiwan considers holding Bitcoin in strategic reserves

Taiwan’s central bank has reportedly agreed to study Bitcoin as a strategic reserve as well as draft pro-Bitcoin regulations and start a BTC treasury using seized BTC.

In a recent post, Taiwanese legislator Dr. Ko Ju-chun announced that the Executive Yuan and its central bank have agreed to start exploring the possibility of adding Bitcoin to its national strategic reserves. If approved, Taiwan could become one of the first Asian countries to hold or pilot BTC as a strategic reserve.

The pro-BTC initiative is led by Ko and supported by BTC technology company JAN3. The firm is focused on expanding global access to BTC and other related Layer2 technologies. Ko made a special mention to JAN3 CEO Samson Mow in his post.

“Calling on the Bitcoin community to show support and help Taiwan become Asia’s BTC hub,” wrote Ko in a translated post.

At the moment, Taiwan’s existing reserves consists of about 432 tons of gold and $577 billion in foreign currency. Around 92% of its reserves are invested into U.S Treasury bonds, indicating the country’s overreliance on the U.S dollar.

In addition, Ko claims that the government plans to start drafting “BTC-friendly rules” within the next six months. The Executive Yuan is also committed to start a pilot on BTC (BTC) treasury holdings. Mirroring the U.S’ own strategic reserve strategy, the central bank will start taking inventory of seized BTC that is awaiting auction.

In 2024, Taiwanese prosecutors reportedly seized around $146 million worth of BTC. Given how much the asset has grown in value since then, it is estimated that the government now holds a trove of BTC worth nearly $300 million.

Back in May, Ko had already pushed for the inclusion of BTC in Taiwan’s national reserves. At the time, he suggested allocating a small portion of the country’s reserve assets to BTC as a hedge against global economic volatility and geopolitical risks.

Bitcoin as a strategic reserve asset in Asia

At the moment, there are only two Asian governments that hold BTC based on current data: China and North Korea. China holds around 190,000 BTC which is worth approximately $19.5 billion according to current market prices.

Meanwhile, North Korea has a modest trove of about 804 BTC, which is worth at least $83 million. The DPRK’s BTC stash is equal to about 0.004% of the total BTC supply.

If the Taiwanese government agrees to start a BTC treasury, it would become the first country in Southeast Asia to hold BTC.

Back in August, Indonesia expressed interest in adopting BTC as a national strategic reserve asset. Indonesian Vice President Gibran Rakabuming Raka had summoned local crypto advocacy group Bitcoin Indonesia to discuss a national BTC strategy.