Polish Presidential Hopeful Vows Bitcoin Reserve in Likely Trump-Led Trend

• Polish presidential candidate Sławomir Mentzen appears to be taking a page from Donald Trump’s playbook.
• Mentzen has long positioned himself as a crypto advocate.
• Mentzen’s Bitcoin promises may be the first markings of a trend tipped to bring the asset to maturity.

With Bitcoin often touted as digital gold, proponents have long toyed with the idea of it serving as a global reserve currency. While this idea has often come across to non-crypto natives as wishful thinking at best or the wild ravings of a cult at worst, it may now be close to becoming a reality.

The first signs that there may be more to these musings came at the end of 2022 when the Latin American country El Salvador began buying Bitcoin daily to create a national reserve. However, the true catalyst for this potential shift may be the incoming Donald Trump administration. On the campaign trail, Trump promised to establish a “strategic national Bitcoin stockpile.” 

This promise that could see the world’s largest economy stock up on Bitcoin may now be sparking a global trend.

Poland To Hop on the Bitcoin Express?

Polish presidential candidate Sławomir Mentzen appears to be taking a page from Donald Trump’s playbook. Ahead of Poland’s presidential election slated for May 2025, Mentzen has pledged to create a strategic national Bitcoin reserve if elected.

The presidential hopeful, who has become popular among Libertarians in the country, expressed this view in an X post on Sunday, November 17. 

“Of course!” Mentzen posted in response to Lech Wilczyński, CEO of crypto exchange Swap.ly when the latter asked if he would pursue the creation of a Polish Bitcoin national reserve as president. Wilczyński’s query came in response to Satoshi Action Fund founder Dennis Porter disclosing that the group had ” ‘open sourced'” a bill that any country could use to establish a Bitcoin reserve. The prototype bill will allow a state treasurer to invest up to 10% of various public funds in Bitcoin.

In a separate post , Mentzen doubled down on the recent commitment, adding that Poland will become a crypto haven if he is elected.

"Poland should create a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve. If I become the President of Poland, our country will become a cryptocurrency haven, with very friendly regulations, low taxes, and a supportive approach from banks and regulators. BTC to the Moon!" he wrote.

The Polish presidential hopeful’s recent commitments are given weight as he is known to be a long-time crypto supporter. In 2022, he disclosed that he had invested all his money in Bitcoin in 2013. 

Interestingly, Mentzen’s Bitcoin promises may be among the first signs of a trend that could bring the asset to maturity.

The Missing Piece?

In a recent report asserting that Bitcoin investors were “still early,” Bitwise CIO Matt Hougan argued that for Bitcoin to attain maturity as a store of value asset, central banks would need to hold a significant portion of their reserves in Bitcoin as they do with gold.

At this point of maturity, Hougan asserted that Bitcoin should have at least half the current market capitalization of gold. At the time of writing, gold’s market capitalization is around $18 trillion. Hougan estimates that Bitcoin would exchange hands for about $500,000 at half this market cap.

"A mature bitcoin would at a minimum share this market equally with gold. Roughly 20 million bitcoins exist today—the remaining million will be issued over the next century—so bitcoin would hold half the market when it hits $500K. Until then, it's still early," he wrote.

On the Flipside

• It remains to be seen whether Mentzen can secure victory in May 2025.
• While Poland may have a stand-alone crypto regulatory framework, it will likely be influenced significantly by MiCA as an EU member country.

Why This Matters

The statements from Sławomir Mentzen suggest that the conditions for a global Bitcoin rush may be set.

Read this for more on the potential Bitcoin rush:
Will Trump’s Bitcoin Reserve Ignite a Global FOMO Race?

See why Aave is eying a Bitcoin expansion:
Aave Eyes Bitcoin Move to Capitalize on Emerging DeFi Narrative