Taiwan Explores Bitcoin As Strategic Reserve, Central Bank to Pilot BTC Holdings

Taiwan’s Central Bank plans to pilot Bitcoin holdings using seized cryptocurrency.

Dr. Ju-chun Ko advocates BTC as a diversification tool to address currency volatility and geopolitical risks.

Taiwan follows global trends with countries like Argentina and the U.S.

Taiwan’s Central Bank and government officials have begun exploring the possibility of adding Bitcoin to the country’s financial reserves. This initiative aims to study Bitcoin’s potential as a strategic reserve and strengthen Taiwan’s financial stability. The plan includes drafting pro-Bitcoin regulations and piloting BTC holdings using seized digital assets.

Pilot Program to Begin with Seized Bitcoin

The Central Bank of Taiwan will start its Bitcoin pilot program using seized Bitcoin, which is awaiting auction. This approach allows the government to assess Bitcoin’s role in Taiwan’s financial strategy without making immediate large-scale investments. Dr. Ju-chun Ko, a legislator leading the effort, has been vocal about diversifying Taiwan’s reserves in response to challenges such as currency volatility and geopolitical risks.

Taiwan’s currency, the New Taiwan Dollar, has faced volatility recently, fluctuating by as much as 5% in a single day. Dr. Ko has criticized Taiwan’s overreliance on the U.S. dollar, especially as a dominant portion of the country’s $577 billion foreign reserves is invested in U.S. Treasury bonds. The current reserve mix, which includes 423 metric tons of gold, has not proven to be sufficient in protecting Taiwan from global financial shocks.

The limited supply of Bitcoin, along with its decentralized characteristic, has been regarded as a benefit when compared to traditional assets. Dr. Ko opines that adding Bitcoin to Taiwan’s reserves will result in a stronger financial position for the country. He made it clear that Bitcoin will be an addition to, rather than a substitute for, the reserve assets. This strategy of diversification is meant to make Taiwan’s economy more resistant to the changes of the global currency market and the instability that comes with it.

Global Context of Bitcoin Integration in National Reserves

Taiwan’s Bitcoin investigation is in line with the global trends of the countries that considered or are considering Bitcoin introduction in the national reserves. Argentina and El Salvador went for Bitcoin, on the one hand, as a protection against inflation and a way of decreasing their dependence on central banks

In March 2025, a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve was created by the United States, which included $17 billion in forfeited Bitcoin, thereby further emphasizing the growing global interest in cryptocurrency as a reserve asset. The Central Bank of Taiwan, although no policy has been formally enacted, is going to carry out a comprehensive study on the possibility of Bitcoin being partly the nation’s reserves. The trial will be based on a program with confiscated Bitcoin and will serve as a preliminary test before going on to wider use

Should the pilot be successful, Taiwan may become one of the first Asian countries to officially adopt Bitcoin as part of its strategic financial assets. In 2024, Taiwan’s Financial Supervisory Commission started permitting professional investors to buy Bitcoin and cryptocurrency ETFs, thus indicating the growing acceptance of digital assets in the country’s financial system.