Sweden Eyes Bitcoin Reserve, Is A Bitcoin Arms Race Coming?

Two members of Sweden’s parliament have called on the government to explore creating a national Bitcoin reserve, marking the latest push by a European country to consider Bitcoin as part of its financial holdings.

The motion, filed Oct. 1 by Swedish Democrats Dennis Dioukarev and David Perez, asks the Riksdag to task the government with investigating how a Bitcoin reserve could be established and which authority would oversee it. 

“By building a strategic bitcoin reserve, Sweden is positioning itself for a potentially disruptive shift in the global financial infrastructure,” the motion stated.

The lawmakers also urged the government to commit to not changing the definition of legal tender under the Riksbank Act — a move that would rule out a Swedish central bank digital currency.

“The Riksdag supports what is stated in the motion that the government should declare that it does not intend to change the definition of legal tender and announces this to the government,” the motion stated.

In their proposal, Dioukarev and Perez framed bitcoin as “digital gold” that could complement Sweden’s existing reserves of gold and foreign exchange. 

They pointed to Bitcoin’s fixed supply and independence from state monetary policy as giving it unique diversification benefits.

Why Sweden is considering Bitcoin

The idea comes as countries worldwide are reassessing their approach to cryptocurrencies. In the U.S., President Donald Trump signed an executive order earlier this year to establish a federal Bitcoin reserve, funded largely through confiscated digital assets.

Finland and the United Kingdom have accumulated Bitcoin through seizures, while Poland, Latvia and the Czech Republic are weighing whether to create their own reserves.

Sweden currently does not publicly hold any bitcoin, according to data from Bitbo. The new framework could provide a budget-neutral way of funding a reserve, the lawmakers suggested, by transferring seized bitcoin into state custody.

El Salvador and Bhutan have been early adopters of bitcoin reserves, while at the subnational level, several U.S. states — including Texas, Arizona and New Hampshire — have passed laws to establish their own holdings. 

More recently, Kazakhstan launched a state-backed crypto reserve with support from Binance.

The motion will next be reviewed by the Riksdag’s Finance Committee later this month.