BTC Brief: Bitcoin as a Strategic Asset for Canada's National Security
The New Strategic Frontier
As the global financial system shifts into the digital era, bitcoin has appeared not only as a tool of financial innovation but also as a strategic asset capable of shaping economic resilience through geopolitical power and alliances founded on Bitcoin adoption. Around the world, governments are beginning to understand Bitcoin's role as a strategic asset.
The United States and China are the two superpowers of the world and dominant players in world politics. Both have moved to integrate digital asset strategies as part of their security doctrines. Canada, however, remains on the sidelines. Despite the potential for a robust mining industry, our country has yet to articulate a national strategy for Bitcoin. In an era where financial systems themselves are becoming theatres of strategic rivalry, inaction risks diminishing Canada's influence, resilience, and sovereignty.
At the Bitcoin 2025 Conference, US Vice President JD Vance addressed Bitcoiners in Las Vegas and declared the United States’ position, citing a natural conflict between China and the US on this front where he said, "The People's Republic of China doesn't like bitcoin. Well, we should be asking ourselves, why is that? Why is our biggest adversary such an opponent of bitcoin, and if the communist Republic of China is leaning away from bitcoin, then maybe the United States ought to be leaning into bitcoin.” For the first time in modern history, nations are competing over the ownership and influence of a stateless, digital form of money, rather than over territory or oil. The struggle is no longer about regulation; it is about who will shape the monetary architecture of the twenty-first century.
Why Bitcoin Matters Strategically
Bitcoin’s importance and value as an asset is derived by combining scarcity, borderless, censorship-resistance, and independence from any government. Combining those properties in a digital asset with a limited supply of 21 million coins makes Bitcoin the world's first truly non-sovereign store of value, a financial asset resistant to inflationary policy or political coercion. That independence gives Bitcoin enormous strategic significance in a world of mounting debt, sanctions, and weaponized finance. It offers states a hedge against the fragility of fiat systems and a new form of reserve diversification untethered from traditional geopolitics. For governments, Bitcoin is both a resilience tool and a potential threat. Whoever understands and integrates it first will help set the rules of the new global monetary order.
United States: Integrating Bitcoin into Strategic Policy
The US currently holds an estimated 198,000 BTC, acquired mainly via law enforcement seizures, such as those cases involving the Silk Road and Bitfinex. In early 2025, the White House went a step further, announcing that a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve would be created-formally recognizing Bitcoin as part of the nation's financial-security apparatus. This decision reflects the recognition in Washington that digital assets today are instruments of power. By doing so, the US cements its lead in capital markets, financial regulation, and digital-asset infrastructure. Just as the dollar once symbolized American economic dominance, Bitcoin could become the foundation of its digital-era resilience—a voluntary extension of free-market principles into cyberspace.
China: Control, Containment, and Quiet Accumulation
The approach of China towards Bitcoin is a paradox. Officially, Beijing has banned domestic trading and mining, painting Bitcoin as a destabilizing Western technology. Yet, it is believed that the Chinese state is one of the largest holders of Bitcoin in the world. In the wake of the 2019 PlusToken fraud investigation, between 190,000–194,000 BTC were seized, along with significant quantities of other cryptocurrencies. Unobtrusively retained by the state, these assets provide China with great latent influence in the Bitcoin ecosystem, even when its policy toward it remains publicly hostile. The real strategic play for China lies elsewhere: in the Digital Yuan. By developing a programmable, centralized national currency, Beijing is trying to build an alternative financial network impervious to U.S. interference. But in this architecture, Bitcoin is also both a rival and a benchmark-a decentralized system that China cannot dominate, yet one that China must understand and hedge against. While the U.S. uses Bitcoin to champion openness, China’s model foregrounds control. Yet both understand that digital money has become a theatre of global competition.
The Numbers: Scarcity as a Strategic Weapon
Combined, the U.S. and China command some 388,000–392,000 BTC, about 1.8–2 percent of the total supply that will ever exist. While that may seem modest, the symbolism is enormous. Because the supply of Bitcoin is capped forever, early state-level accumulation effectively locks in future economic leverage. Each bitcoin held today is not just an asset; it is a slice of global monetary influence in a system that cannot be inflated, confiscated, or replicated. This scarcity turns Bitcoin into a new kind of digital gold, and the first country to give it institutional form gains a lasting advantage. The rivalry in Bitcoin between the U.S. and China is not about portfolio diversification alone. It is about who dictates the rules on financial freedom in the digital age. For the U.S., embracing Bitcoin strengthens the liberal economic order by supporting open networks, innovation, and transparency. For China, suppressing Bitcoin while advancing its digital yuan solidifies central authority, data control, and international financial reach. Each side looks to define the future of money in its own image, one rooted in freedom, the other in control. The outcome will influence not only markets but also the balance of ideological power. Further, Bitcoin undermines traditional sanctions and monetary dominance. A world where reserves are shifted to decentralized assets from fiat is a world in which control over financial chokepoints is weakened. In the U.S., strategic adoption preserves leadership, while in China, defensive accumulation prevents isolation.
Implications for Canada and the West
This race carries profound implications for Canada. A G7 economy with abundant energy and the potential for an advanced fintech infrastructure, Canada is well-placed to play a meaningful role in Bitcoin's next chapter but presently lacks a coordinated national strategy. A proactive Canadian policy, which recognizes this strategic dimension of Bitcoin through research, reserve diversification, and energy-linked mining incentives, would reinforce national sovereignty and innovative leadership. Failing to act, by contrast, risks dependence on others' monetary architectures. Competition for Bitcoin represents the start of a new monetary epoch. In much the same way that oil created the 20th century geopolitics of energy, Bitcoin will define the geopolitics of value in this, the 21st century. The United States has formalized its stake, while China quietly holds its own. They both understand very well that Bitcoin is more than code; it's power, resilience, and influence compressed into 21 million units. The lesson for Canada and other democratic nations is clear: Bitcoin is not just an investment; it is a tool of sovereignty. And yet, with Bitcoin, the race is already on. The question now becomes whether Canada will be a leader-or an observer-watching as others define the next course of money.