20 States Have Pending Strategic Bitcoin Reserve (SBR) Legislation

According to the Bitcoin Reserve Monitor, 20 states have pending Strategic Bitcoin Reserve (SBR) legislation. As bullish as these efforts seem, they may be overshadowed by a sweeping federal framework pushed by Senator Cynthia Lummis

Twenty states have pending Strategic Bitcoin Reserve (SBR) legislation, according to the Bitcoin Reserve Monitor. These efforts, while noteworthy, may be overshadowed by a broader federal framework being pushed by Senator Cynthia Lummis, the new head of the Banking Subcommittee on Digital Assets.

After 16 years of speculation, experimentation, and blockchain calamities, Bitcoin appears to be on the cusp of a major shift in perception. Bitcoin’s inflation rate is already below 1%, and its 21 million BTC scarcity serves as a bulwark against the inevitable erosion of currency by the world’s central banks.

Perhaps most importantly, Bitcoin’s ledger can be readily verified by anyone, unlike gold reserves. These and other factors position Bitcoin as a premiere retirement asset, one that is highly resistant to tampering by central planners.

But what would leveraging Bitcoin for retirement actually look like? First, we need to consider the significance of BSR being discussed at such a high level.

BSR: The Final Perceptual Push?

At the core of human structure and function lies trust. It underpins interpersonal relations and large-scale societal systems. This is why narrative control, recently exposed by Elon Musk’s DOGE going through USAID funding, is so critical for governance systems, no matter how they are labeled.

While highly precious, trust is a fungible resource. For the purpose of social stability, if trust in fakery is achieved, it is as valuable as trust in truth. However, the former type of trust lacks resilience, necessitating ever-escalating levers of course. In turn, this makes managed trust more fragile.

In contrast to managed trust, we have Bitcoin as a trustless system. Paradoxically, Bitcoin represents the highest and most resilient form of trust management because it minimizes subjective trust while maximizing objective truth through its cryptography and proof-of-work mechanism.

At a glance, this would make Bitcoin the obvious choice as a store of value. However, surveys consistently show that older people are less trusting of Bitcoin and digital assets in general.

2023 Voice of the Investor study. Image credit: Morningstar

Why is this the case? Why would people with greater experience be less trustful of the highest form of trust management like Bitcoin? Wouldn’t they welcome such major innovation?

The reason is that reputational signaling overrides technical understanding. For most people, technical understanding is not even attempted without the social push. In other words, for something to be adopted and integrated, it has to be sanctified by authority figures, lest it be confined to the fringes.

The older demographic, specifically, relies more on “greater reputation-related activity in mentalizing/memory areas when making their decisions,” as shown by computational modeling in a 2023 study titled Age-related Differences in the Social Associative Learning of Trust Information.

To put it simply, for the older generation, the lowest common denominator mainstream media serves as the primary purveyor and sanctifier of Bitcoin information. However, because mainstream media is closely interwoven with the government, as the DOGE-powered revelations indicate, the sanctification process begins and ends with the government.

This is why the potential Bitcoin Strategic Reserve is such a monumental threshold. It would signal trust in Bitcoin from the very top, which would then trickle down to sanctification layers that provide cues to the older demographic. Even if MSM is hostile to the Trump admin, the existence of BSR would shift the tone of Bitcoin coverage forever.

As such, BSR should be understood as the final perceptual push that changes the Bitcoin landscape. The implications are already apparent.

Boomers vs Zoomers: Holders vs Strivers

Just as surveys show that younger generations are more likely to participate in digital assets, they also show that Gen Z has the least expectations for homeownership. This is a major generational cleavage, effectively burying the so-called “American Dream.” But is that really the case going forward?

What if BSR establishes new social signaling for the baby boomer generation? In that scenario, boomers would serve as (1946 – 1964) massive holders of wealth. Outpacing both GenX (1965 -1980) and Millennials (1981 -1996), boomers hold an estimated $78.1 trillion, or 52% of US net wealth as of 2023.

On average, baby boomers have a net worth of $2.31 million, according to Terry Rawnsley, KPMG Urban Economist. In contrast, GenX has an average net worth of $1.88 million, Millennials at $757,000, while Gen Z is at the bottom of the generational pile at $96,000.

If boomers take the reputational cue from BSR, even a small fraction of capital inflows into Bitcoin, custodial or non-custodial, would drastically shift BTC price. Wealth funds have already suggested above 1% BTC allocation