VanEck Proposes Bitcoin Mining Royalty to Fill US Strategic Reserve

VanEck's head of digital assets research, Matthew Sigel, has proposed a novel approach to fill the US strategic Bitcoin reserve in a budget-neutral way. Speaking at the 2025 Bitcoin Conference in Las Vegas on May 27, Sigel suggested that the federal government could accumulate Bitcoin (BTC) by imposing a royalty on domestic Bitcoin mining. This proposal comes in the wake of President Donald Trump's executive order establishing a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and a Digital Asset Stockpile, which directs Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick to expand federal holdings without new taxpayer spending.

Sigel outlined two main channels for growing the reserve. The first involves executive action, utilizing the Exchange Stabilization Fund for an initial $100 million allocation. However, he cautioned that larger purchases could face legal challenges. The second, more durable path involves inserting funding language into Congress’s annual budget-reconciliation process, which requires only 51 votes in the Senate. Beyond direct allocations, Sigel suggested that Congress should include small amendments in every bill requiring miners to transfer a portion of their block rewards to the Treasury.

Sigel's proposal for a mining-royalty system is designed to satisfy the mandate of expanding federal holdings without new taxpayer spending. Under this system, miners, not taxpayers, would supply the coins. Sigel framed the idea as a way to "clean up the environment and accumulate a Bitcoin stack at the same time." He argued that miners who convert waste methane into electricity deserve tax relief while the federal government receives a royalty. Energy producers that flare or vent methane could install mobile data-center rigs, route the gas into generators, and earn block rewards free of income tax. Miners would then forward an agreed-upon percentage, suggested to be in single digits, directly to the Treasury’s reserve wallet.

Sigel's model aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and diversify national reserves without federal outlays. He suggested that pilot programs could refine royalty rates and compliance rules. To advance this proposal, Sigel called for bipartisan co-sponsors to embed royalty language in energy, defense, and appropriations bills, citing federal oil-and-gas royalties as precedent. He also urged state officials to accelerate permits for miners that sign federal royalty contracts, mirroring existing tax holidays for data centers and renewable-power projects. Sigel concluded by stating that swift legislative work could allow the US to "stack sats" within current fiscal limits and position the reserve for the next budget cycle.