The Pentagon has submitted a request to the White House for an additional $200 billion in military funding for the Iran war. Based on Bitcoin’s current price of approximately $68,600, this amounts to about 2,915,451 bitcoins, close to 3 million. The request has faced opposition from members of both parties before being officially submitted to Congress and has not yet been approved.
Measuring Government Spending in Bitcoin: What Does 3 Million Bitcoins Mean?
(Source: Shaun Edmondson)
U.S. Government: Holds about 328,372 bitcoins (equivalent to 8.6 times its holdings of $20 billion)
MicroStrategy (largest publicly held Bitcoin holder): 761,068 bitcoins (about 3.7 times)
BlackRock iShares IBIT (largest Bitcoin ETF): approximately 785,629 bitcoins (about 3.6 times)
Binance: over 639,000 bitcoins (about 4.4 times)
Satoshi Nakamoto (estimated holdings): about 1.096 million bitcoins (about 2.6 times)
Top 10 U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs combined: about 1.52 million bitcoins (about 1.86 times)
Top 100 publicly traded Bitcoin treasury companies worldwide: 1,176,615 bitcoins (about 2.4 times)
A straightforward comparison might be with the remaining unmined supply: according to Blockchain.com data, there are currently 20,003,043 bitcoins in circulation, with 996,957 bitcoins left to be mined up to the 21 million cap. $200 billion is equivalent to 2.83 times the remaining unmined Bitcoin supply.
Fiat Currency Can Be Printed, Bitcoin Cannot: What Does This Arithmetic Reveal?
The core difference behind this calculation is the fundamental divergence between fiat currency systems and Bitcoin’s monetary architecture. The U.S. government can request $200 billion for war because the dollar system allows for continuous expansion of the balance sheet through debt—currently, U.S. federal debt exceeds $39 trillion. Massive military spending is absorbed by issuing bonds through the Treasury, without the need to pre-accumulate fixed scarce funds.
Bitcoin’s operational logic is entirely different. Its maximum supply is fixed at 21 million coins in the code, and new coins are only issued gradually through mining—no institution can create new bitcoins out of thin air. This makes it virtually impossible in reality to accumulate 3 million bitcoins, as that amount exceeds the combined holdings of all global institutions, governments, and major exchanges.
Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong stated on X: “Bitcoin can hedge against inflation. When spending gets out of control, funds flow into Bitcoin.” This logic has also begun to influence policy discourse—by March 2025, the Trump administration issued an executive order establishing a strategic Bitcoin reserve, positioning Bitcoin as a national reserve asset that should not be sold.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does the Pentagon’s $200 billion request mean the U.S. government will finance the war with Bitcoin?
Absolutely not. The Pentagon’s budget request is denominated in dollars and financed through congressional appropriations and Treasury debt issuance, with no direct relation to cryptocurrencies. Using Bitcoin as a measurement unit is merely a way to provide an intuitive scale reference so investors can understand the size of government spending in familiar market terms.
Why can the U.S. easily request $200 billion but cannot raise an equivalent amount of Bitcoin?
The dollar is fiat currency, and the government can infinitely expand its supply by issuing bonds. The federal deficit’s capacity to carry debt is constrained by market confidence, not a fixed limit. Bitcoin’s maximum supply is locked at 21 million coins in the code and can only be released gradually through mining—no entity can create new coins out of thin air. An amount of Bitcoin equivalent to $200 billion exceeds the total holdings of all major global holders, making it impossible to raise such an amount at once in reality.
What is the connection between Trump’s establishment of a strategic Bitcoin reserve and Iran’s war spending request?
Currently, there is no direct link. The strategic Bitcoin reserve indicates officials are exploring ways to acquire more Bitcoin without increasing the budget, not using war funds to buy cryptocurrencies. Both policies coexist, but this comparison reveals a deeper contradiction: the scale difference between the U.S. government’s Bitcoin holdings (about 328,000 coins) and its fiat debt (including the $20 billion war expense).
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