Jack Mallers, founder and CEO of Strike, ignited fresh debate over Washington’s still-undisclosed Bitcoin balance on Wednesday night, arguing that the US government is withholding the numbers because its position is “too small to lead” the digital-asset economy.
“The US won’t disclose their BTC holdings. Why? Because they realized they don’t own enough,” Mallers posted on X, adding that the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve (SBR) race is “far from over” and “I expect this to heat up.”
Over the past months, Hines’ tone was not apologetic. “We want as much Bitcoin as we can possibly get, and we’re going to continue to work on that,” he said in a separate interview, describing Bitcoin as “digital gold”.
Separate on-chain data confirm that federal wallets sent 30,175 BTC to Coinbase Prime as early as April 2024, with additional transfers worth $1.9 billion following in December 2024.
Mallers seized on those numbers. “I think the Democrats sold off a bunch of that Bitcoin, and they don’t want to announce anything until they can build the position back,” he said, calling the audit delay “a branding problem” for a country that bills itself as the future Bitcoin super-power.
Bitcoin is trading above $114,000 after peaking at $123,000 last week, up more than 100 percent year-on-year. The float is already constrained: roughly 92 percent of all coins are mined, and large swaths sit in dormant or long-term-holder wallets. Should the Treasury accelerate SBR purchases—as Mallers predicts—the incremental buy-side pressure could tighten supply further.
From Mallers’ vantage point, the political embarrassment he describes is ultimately price-positive: “If the US wants to plant its flag as the crypto capital, it has no choice but to accumulate. That’s the bullish takeaway. We’re talking about a buyer with the deepest pockets on Earth.”
Whether Congress will backstop those purchases is another matter. Senator Cynthia Lummis has re-introduced a bill directing the Treasury to acquire up to one million BTC over five years, but appropriations committees have yet to schedule hearings.
At press time, BTC traded at $114,572.
