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.
Summary
- Taiwanese legislator Dr. Ko Ju-chun announced that the Executive Yuan and central bank will explore adding Bitcoin to Taiwan’s national strategic reserves, potentially making it the first Southeast Asian country to hold BTC.
- The government plans to draft Bitcoin-friendly regulations within six months and launch a BTC treasury pilot, starting by making an inventory of seized Bitcoin currently valued at around $300 million.
In a recent post, Taiwanese lawmaker Dr. Ko Ju-chun announced that the Executive Yuan and its central bank have agreed to begin exploring the possibility of adding Bitcoin to their 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 backed by BTC technology company JAN3. The company is focused on expanding global access to BTC and other related Layer2 technologies. Ko made a special mention of JAN3 CEO Samson Mow in his post.
“Calling on the Bitcoin community to show support and help Taiwan become Asia’s BTC hub,” Ko wrote in a translated text. mail.
At the moment, Taiwan’s existing reserves consist of around 432 tons of gold and $577 billion in foreign currency. About 92% of its reserves are invested in US Treasury bonds, indicating the country’s overdependence on the US dollar.
Furthermore, Ko claims that the government plans to start drafting “BTC-friendly rules” within the next six months. The Executive Yuan also commits to starting a pilot in BTC (btc) treasury holdings. Mirroring the United States’ own strategic reserve strategy, the central bank will begin taking inventory of seized BTC that are awaiting auction.
In 2024, Taiwanese prosecutors allegedly seized around $146 million worth of BTC. Given how much the value of the asset has increased since then, it is estimated that the government now holds a BTC hoard worth almost $300 million.
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 based on current market prices.
Meanwhile, North Korea has a modest hoard of around 804 BTC, which is worth at least $83 million. The DPRK’s BTC stock is equivalent to approximately 0.004% of the total BTC supply.
If the Taiwanese government agrees to start a BTC treasury, it would become the first Southeast Asian country to own BTC.
In August, Indonesia voiced interest in adopting BTC as a national strategic reserve asset. Indonesian Vice President Gibran Rakabuming Raka had convened local cryptocurrency advocacy group Bitcoin Indonesia to discuss a national BTC strategy.
