The path that gold took thousands of years to traverse, cryptocurrencies could take in less than two decades.
Bitcoin, the oldest and most valuable cryptocurrency, has existed since January 2009, and in March 2025. US President Donald Trump signed an executive order formally establishing the country's National Strategic Bitcoin Reserve.
America has thus joined several countries in the world, such as China, Great Britain, El Salvador or North Korea, and the trend of creating such strategic reserves began at the end of the last decade, says Antonio Mele, a professor at the London School of Economics (LSE), for BBC Serbian.
Cryptocurrencies are currencies most similar to shares, and do not exist in physical form, but only in digital form and are not controlled by banks.
"Cryptocurrencies offer the unique advantages of reserve autonomy and potential appreciation, but they lack the predictability and trust of institutions, such as gold or the dollar, that constitute traditional strategic reserves," Mele explains.
Bitcoin, which economists also call "digital gold," is by far the most common currency found in government reserves due to its "age, liquidity, decentralization, and reputation," the expert adds.
"Its resistance to control by foreign powers makes it particularly attractive to countries that want greater independence," says Mele.
The United States will form reserves for now exclusively from bitcoins seized in the fight against crime.
David Sachs, Trump's advisor in this area, estimates that in The state owns about 200.000, which is worth about $17 billion at the mid-April exchange rate.
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China is in second place with a few thousand less, the United Kingdom has reserves of 61.000 bitcoins, and Ukraine, Bhutan, El Salvador, North Korea and other countries also have them.
However, states own just over two percent of the total number of bitcoins on the planet.
There are experts who believe that "the financial system of the future will be based on bitcoin as a symbol of value, like gold used to be," Aleksandar Matanović, co-founder of the Serbian Bitcoin Association, tells BBC Serbian.
Some countries therefore "probably think it wise to prepare for such a scenario, should it materialize," he adds.
"Trump's order only confirmed that cryptocurrencies are here to stay."
"It will also play an increasingly important role in the future, although it was not accompanied by any specific purchase of cryptocurrencies, so the immediate impact on their price was not great," adds the founder of ECD, the first cryptocurrency exchange in Serbia.
Why do states have reserves at all?
First of all, they do this to be prepared for unexpected events and maintain stability, says Professor Antonio Mele.
Reserves can be of various types - from commodity reserves, which often contain basic foodstuffs, to foreign exchange reserves, which store foreign currencies, most often the US dollar, to gold reserves, to strategic reserves.
Strategic ones store important raw materials such as oil or gas.
State reserves have several functions, notes Professor Mele.
"They support national security by ensuring access to key goods such as oil and food during crises such as wars, natural disasters, or trade blockades."
"Economically speaking, financial reserves in foreign currencies or gold help stabilize national currencies and manage large market fluctuations," the economist explains.
Their role is important in strengthening the state's ability to meet financial obligations, protecting wealth through the possession of various types of valuable raw materials, currencies or precious metals.
They can also be a geopolitical strategic advantage, if one country has control over key raw materials, he adds.
"Ultimately, reserves are also a form of preparedness for the country and are kept for moments when normal systems fail," Mele emphasizes.
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Are strategic reserves and cryptocurrencies a good match?
Some experts are concerned about the volatility of the cryptocurrency market, which could have a negative impact on the reserves made from them.
Bitcoin can gain or lose five to 10 percent of its value in a single day, and there have been longer periods during which it has fluctuated by up to 80 percent, which are not the problems that gold and the dollar bring, notes Professor Mele.
The impact of market instability on reserves will depend largely on the size of the reserves.
"Of course, the larger they are, the more significantly they affect overall reserves."
"I do not believe that they can affect the stability of public finances for the time being, just as variations in the price of gold do not affect it," says Aleksandar Matanović.
He cites "political neutrality" as the advantages of bitcoin over gold and the dollar, as well as "ease of storage and transfer."
"The main drawback is that this area is still quite new, so many people have a great deal of mistrust about the future of cryptocurrencies," explains Matanović.
Compared to the dollar, Bitcoin's advantage is that it "does not require a bank network," but can be transferred directly, without intermediaries and without the control of any state, says Mele.
At the same time, it cannot be subject to sanctions, which is a threat when reserves are made from US dollars.
But introducing cryptocurrencies into the reserves of countries around the world could call into question their purpose, according to Russ Mould, investment director at British company AJ Bell.
"In theory, strategic reserves should be used to store value, which could change the minds of skeptics and opponents of cryptocurrencies," he said in a written response to the BBC in Serbian.
There is another problem.
"Five or 10 years ago, those who advocated the use of cryptocurrencies claimed that they had no connection with the authorities and the profligates in power, that they were 'outside the system.'"
"Now it seems they are not only seeking approval from authorities and regulators, but they are also looking for governments to buy cryptocurrencies," explains Mould.
He also says that they can't have "both".
"You can't help but think that the current uproar about the US government buying cryptocurrencies is just another way for those looking to get rich quick, at least for some proponents, rather than a matter of philosophy," the British expert believes.
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Experiences around the world: From El Salvador to North Korea
Cryptocurrencies first appeared in state reserves after being seized in the fight against crime.
Over the past decade, hundreds of thousands of bitcoins have been seized in the United States, the United Kingdom, Bulgaria, and other countries through criminal investigations or sanctions against individuals and entities that owned the digital tokens.
Governments thus began to own cryptocurrencies "not at first by their own will, but indirectly," says Antonio Mele.
There were also countries that saw cryptocurrency reserves as a way to circumvent sanctions, most notably Venezuela, Iran, and North Korea.
"Venezuela has even launched its own state-owned cryptocurrency, the Petro, and is considering adding Bitcoin and Ethereum to its foreign exchange reserves, while Iran has increased its share of global Bitcoin mining," Mele adds.
A turning point in the attitude of governments towards digital currencies was El Salvador's move in 2021, when the country adopted bitcoin as a regular means of payment and created reserves of that currency, which it has increased to 6.100 bitcoins to date.
"It caught the world's attention, and the Central African Republic has been following suit since 2022, legalizing bitcoin, even though it doesn't hold significant reserves," Mele says.
Today, the idea of holding reserves in cryptocurrencies has "become part of broader policy and economic debates" and "evolved from accidental seizures to a deliberate strategy," according to a lecturer at the London School of Economics.
He says that the approaches of countries that have so far used this type of strategic reserves differ in their "political objectives, legal framework and geopolitical position."
After seizing around 2.000 bitcoins in criminal cases, Finland decided to sell them in 2022 and forward the money to Ukraine as aid during its war with Russia.
El Salvador wanted to "increase financial independence" and stimulate investment, but using bitcoin as a means of payment proved "unsuccessful due to high market volatility," Mele explains.
Bhutan, a small Asian country in the Himalayas, is among the five countries with the largest reserves, holding more than 12.000 bitcoins worth more than $1,1 billion.
By selling at times of high prices, the country's government is trying to help the economy, which is the last time did in November, selling 367 bitcoins.
Through numerous seizure operations, America has acquired a large amount of bitcoins and other currencies, which it had previously sold at auctions.
But Trump's order will now include the currencies in the strategic reserves, "which suggests a possible change in approach," the professor says.
North Korea, Iran, and Russia often use cryptocurrencies for transactions to circumvent Western sanctions.
Pyongyang "secretly accumulates billions of dollars through hacking to circumvent sanctions and fund its military program, but there is no public data on reserves" in North Korea, Mele said.
"Russia is exploring opportunities for crypto trading under sanctions, but has no formal reservations."
"Ukraine received significant donations in cryptocurrencies during the war, but it uses them for emergency needs, not as reserves," he adds.
However, most countries have not yet dared to take that path.
"It is possible that some countries will build reserves from cryptocurrencies, especially those under sanctions, but for now it remains just an experiment that everyone is watching carefully," Mele concludes.
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Where is the Balkans?
Balkan countries have not yet created public reserves from cryptocurrencies.
"I don't expect it in Serbia in the near future, and I don't see it being talked about anywhere in the region at all for now," says Aleksandar Matanović.
The closest to forming crypto reserves was Bulgaria, which seized more than 2017 bitcoins in 200.000 when a criminal group whose members were from Bulgaria, Serbia, North Macedonia, Romania and Greece was exposed, the authorities announced at the time. South East European Law Enforcement Center (SELEC).
The value of one bitcoin was then slightly more than $2.300, while it is currently almost $83.000, which means that the total price of the seized bitcoins would be more than $16 billion.
That is more than 15 percent of the gross domestic product and almost a third of the value of the country's foreign debt.
Due to the seizure of a large amount, speculation has begun that Bulgaria may have become one of the countries with the largest crypto reserves in the world.
From Sofia that they have not yet publicly confirmed because the trial of the criminal group is still ongoing.
Montenegro is the Balkan country that was most often mentioned in the same sentence as cryptocurrencies, mostly because South Korean businessman Do Kwon was arrested in Podgorica for fraud involving digital tokens.
Which is why at the end of 2024. extradited to America.
Milojko Spajić, the current Prime Minister of Montenegro, in 2022, as Minister of Finance, publicly spoke about the intention to the country becomes a "crypto paradise" and that a third of the economy could be based on it by 2025.
The Montenegrin government also established the Directorate for Cryptocurrencies and Blockchain, which was later shut down, and in 2022, Vitalik Buterin, co-founder of the Ethereum blockchain, was granted Montenegrin citizenship.
"As for the Balkans, if I had to guess who would go first, I would probably choose Montenegro," says Matanović.
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