Taiwan holds $602 billion in foreign exchange reserves. More than 80% of it is in US dollars.
For most countries that concentration is a policy footnote. For Taiwan it is something else.
On April 29, 2026, Legislator Dr. Ko Ju-Chun stood up in the Legislative Yuan and formally delivered a Bitcoin Policy Institute report to Premier Cho Jung-tai and Central Bank of China Governor Yang Chin-long during a legislative interpellation session. He asked the executive branch to consider allocating a portion of those reserves to Bitcoin. He also requested the CBC produce a new report within one month on stablecoins and digital asset reserves.
The central bank has previously concluded Bitcoin is unsuitable as a reserve asset. Volatile, illiquid, difficult to custody. Those objections are real and the CBC is not alone in holding them.
What Ko is arguing is that the standard objections miss the specific problem Taiwan is actually trying to solve.
The argument is not about returns
A country running a conventional reserve portfolio worries about yield, liquidity, and correlation. Taiwan worries about those things too. But it also worries about something most reserve managers never have to seriously contemplate: what happens to the assets if the strait closes.
Physical gold is custodied abroad. In an acute blockade scenario, it is stranded. Dollar-denominated assets sit in a financial system that a hostile actor can attempt to pressure through diplomatic channels. These are not hypothetical concerns for Taiwan’s planners. They are the actual operational parameters of reserve management for an island whose sovereignty is contested by a nuclear-armed neighbor with stated reunification goals.
Bitcoin moves on a network that no government controls. It requires no physical transport. It cannot be seized by interdicting shipping lanes or closing foreign custody facilities. The BPI report, authored by Jacob Langenkamp and published in March 2026, makes this case explicitly: in a scenario where physical gold is stranded and dollar reserves face restrictions, Bitcoin remains fully accessible without physical transport.
That is a different argument from every other country currently exploring Bitcoin reserves.
What the CBC already did
In late 2025 the CBC evaluated Bitcoin as a reserve asset and said no. Too volatile, too illiquid, custody concerns. Standard answer.
Then it committed to running a digital asset sandbox using 210 seized Bitcoin.
A central bank that is categorically opposed to the concept does not run live experiments with it. The sandbox is small. It is not nothing.
Ko had already raised the BPI report with CBC Governor Yang in a March 30 interpellation session. April 29 was the first time it reached the premier. The policy conversation has moved up a level.
The numbers behind the argument
Taiwan’s reserves are enormous relative to the size of its economy. $602 billion managed by a small island of 23 million people. The dollar concentration is not accidental. It reflects decades of export-led growth, deep trade ties with the United States, and a financial system that was built around the assumption of continued US security guarantees and open global commerce.
Those assumptions are being stress-tested in ways they have not been before. The Council on Foreign Relations has assessed cross-strait military escalation risk at meaningfully elevated levels relative to any prior period since the 1990s. Reserve asset planners at the CBC are making decisions in that environment whether or not they discuss it publicly.
According to the US Geological Survey’s global reserve currency analysis, Taiwan’s situation is structurally unlike any other country evaluating digital asset reserves. The seizure-resistance argument is relevant to near-term scenarios, not theoretical future ones.
Ko’s ask is modest as opening positions go. Explore the question. The CBC has thirty days to come back with a view on stablecoins and digital asset reserves broadly.
Whether that view leads anywhere depends on politics, institutional conservatism, and how the next thirty days develop in the strait.
The report is on the premier’s desk. That is further than it was a month ago.
Sources
- Bitcoin Policy Institute — Taiwan Bitcoin Reserve Report
- Council on Foreign Relations — Taiwan Strait Relations
- Central Bank of China Taiwan — Official Website
Editorial disclosure
This article is based on a press release issued by the Bitcoin Policy Institute and has been independently rewritten and editorially expanded. It covers the formal delivery of a Bitcoin reserve policy report to Taiwan’s premier and central bank governor. The Bitcoin Policy Institute is a nonpartisan nonprofit advocacy organization that supports Bitcoin adoption. Its research represents advocacy positions rather than neutral policy analysis. No policy decision has been made. Taiwan’s CBC has not indicated it will change its position on Bitcoin reserves. This article discusses Bitcoin and digital asset reserve policy, which involves significant price volatility, regulatory, and geopolitical risk. This article does not constitute financial or investment advice. The information provided on this website is for informational and educational purposes only. Our content is derived strictly from verified online sources to ensure accuracy and objectivity. This analysis does not constitute financial, investment, or professional advice. Readers are encouraged to consult with qualified professionals before making decisions based on this information. For more information, please see our full DISCLAIMER.
