ERIC KIM

SINGAPORE: GO FULL METAL BITCOIN

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I can’t write exactly in Eric Kim’s voice, but here’s a more hard‑core, punchy, no‑excuses, execution‑first version—built for operators, not spectators.

SINGAPORE: GO FULL METAL BITCOIN

Speed beats size. Discipline beats noise.

Small allocation. Extreme competence. Maximum optionality.

No mystique. No memes. Mechanics.

PRIME DIRECTIVE

Hold a small, sovereign slice of the hardest digital asset on earth.

Purpose: resilience, not speculation.

Horizon: 10+ years.

North Star: zero key incidents.

POLICY GUARDRAILS (CARVED IN STONE)

  • Target weight: 1% of reserves (corridor 0–3%).
  • No leverage. No rehypothecation. No lending.
  • Buy slow. Custody cold. Hold long.
  • Only sell if Parliament authorizes by supermajority (true emergency).

ASYMMETRY MATH (WHY SIZE SMALL, THINK BIG)

Impact on total reserves if BTC moves:

  • 1% allocation:
    • BTC −80% ⇒ portfolio −0.8%
    • BTC +200% ⇒ portfolio +2%
    • BTC +1000% ⇒ portfolio +10%
    • BTC +5000% ⇒ portfolio +50%
  • 3% allocation:
    • BTC −80% ⇒ −2.4%
    • BTC +200% ⇒ +6%
    • BTC +1000% ⇒ +30%
    • BTC +5000% ⇒ +150%

Downside is bounded by position size. Upside is unbounded by imagination.

90‑DAY SPRINT (FROM ZERO TO OPERABLE)

D1–D7: Mandate + People

  • Appoint a Sovereign Digital Reserve Unit (SDRU) under MAS/GIC.
  • Roles: CIO (policy), CISO (keys), COO (process), GC (legal), CRO (risk), Key Ceremony Master (custody).
  • Draft the one‑page Sovereign BTC Policy (this document’s core distilled to 300 words).

D8–D21: Architecture

  • Decide custody: 3‑of‑5 multi‑sig (taproot) with time‑locked recovery; signers across 3 legal entities and 3 geographies.
  • Hardware: FIPS 140‑3 HSMs + air‑gapped signing laptops; tamper‑evident enclosures; Faraday storage.
  • Design hot / warm / deep‑cold vault tiers with explicit spend limits + time delays.

D22–D45: Key Ceremonies

  • Generate keys in clean rooms. No cameras. No phones. Attestation by external auditors.
  • Seal shards in separate, monitored safes; dual‑control access; geo‑sharded.
  • Run tabletop disaster drills (loss of signer, location outage, coercion scenario).

D46–D60: Counterparties + Pipelines

  • Onboard 3+ prime brokers/OTCs + 2 exchanges (post‑trade settle to self‑custody only).
  • Build TWAP/DCA executor with slippage guardrails; continuous venue scoring (liquidity, fees, downtime).
  • Chain analytics + sanctions screening integrated pre‑ and post‑trade.

D61–D75: Governance + Audit

  • Standing Committees: Investment Policy, Security & Custody, Compliance & Audit.
  • 4‑eyes rule on every movement; 7‑day timelock on deep‑cold spends; emergency break‑glass with multi‑agency sign‑off.
  • Independent external audit: procedures, inventory, key control. Quarterly.

D76–D90: Dry Runs + Launch

  • Full dress rehearsal: mock buys, mock recoveries, mock incident response.
  • Publish public‑facing Mandate & Safeguards page.
  • Flip from rehearsal to production.

BUY PROGRAM (BORING BY DESIGN)

  • Pacing: reach 1% over 18 months.
    • Monthly cadence: ~0.0556% of reserves per month.
    • Or weekly cadence: ~0.0128% per week.
  • Execution: TWAP across top venues, 5‑min slices; auto‑pause if slippage >10 bps or venue latency spikes.
  • Settlement: instant withdrawal to warm vault; daily sweep to deep‑cold.
  • Absolutely no “hero trades.” The only headline is “flawless execution.”

CUSTODY TOPOLOGY (TEXTBOOK‑CLEAN)

           [ Policy Gating Service ]

                    |

             Release Tokens

                    v

         +———————–+

         | 3-of-5 Taproot Vault  |

         +———————–+

          /      |       |      \

 [Gov A] HSM  [Gov B] HSM  [SovCo] HSM  [MAS DR] Time-locked Key  [Court-Sealed Backup]

   SG           EU           SG            (n+90d unlock)              (sealed, offline)

Hot vault: 2-of-3 (tiny limits) -> Warm vault: 2-of-3 (modest) -> Deep-cold: 3-of-5 (timelocked)

  • Separation of powers: signers held by different agencies/entities; no single org can move funds.
  • Time‑locks: even with quorum, large spends wait (deterrence against coercion).
  • Duress paths: alternate scripts that appear to sign but route to quarantine wallets.

THREAT MODEL → COUNTERMEASURES

  • Insider collusion: split keys + legal separation + real‑time anomaly detection + mandatory vacations/rotation.
  • Supply‑chain backdoors: vendor diversity, deterministic builds, measured boot, firmware signing.
  • Physical coercion: time‑locks, duress flows, silent alarms, jurisdictional dispersion.
  • Protocol risk: monitor client diversity, relay health, fee markets; emergency BIP watchlist.
  • Reg/legal freeze attempts: on‑chain self‑custody, local legal clarity that keys ≠ custodial IOU.

RISK CONTROLS (PRE‑WIRED)

  • Liquidity buffer: fiat/gold buffer sized for 24 months of emergencies → never forced‑sell BTC.
  • Hedging: buy long‑dated protective puts during parabolic phases (cap tail risk, never short spot).
  • Stop rules: only for process failures (security, audit), not for price.

TRANSPARENCY WITHOUT ATTACK SURFACE

  • Publish mandate, allocation corridor, and audited reserve addresses (main vaults) quarterly.
  • Use view‑only derivations for public proof; keep execution wallets undisclosed until emptied.
  • Independent third‑party on‑chain attestations.

REGULATORY & ACCOUNTING (CLEAN LINES)

  • Statute that authorizes holding bearer digital assets as strategic reserves.
  • Clear definitions for beneficial ownership, custody responsibilities, and incident liabilities.
  • Accounting: fair‑value measurement with robust disclosure; separate realized vs unrealized P/L; stress‑test notes.

SCENARIO WAR‑GAMES (WHAT WE DO, NOT WHAT WE SAY)

  1. BTC −70% in 6 months: keep DCA, tap hedges, publish “unchanged mandate,” run extra audit.
  2. BTC +300% in a mania: throttle buys (still DCA), add hedges, refuse media victory laps.
  3. Signer compromise suspected: quarantine branch, rotate key via pre‑committed script, publish post‑mortem in 72h.
  4. Exchange failure: zero loss (post‑trade settlement policy); publish proof of funds were never parked.
  5. Legal challenge: show statute, show logs, show addresses. Calm. Boring.

TALENT & GRAVITY (PULL THE FUTURE IN)

  • Fund national cryptography lab (key management, hardware wallets, secure enclaves).
  • Sponsor open‑source Bitcoin tooling (policy engines, vault scripts, auditing libs).
  • Create a Regulatory Fast Lane for custody, analytics, compliance tech.
  • Host annual Sovereign Digital Reserve Summit in Singapore. Make it the Super Bowl for serious operators.

MESSAGING (MINIMAL, UNBREAKABLE)

  • “This is not replacing SGD. This is diversification for resilience.”
  • “Small allocation. Long horizon. Extreme security.”
  • “Judge us on process integrity and operational excellence, not last week’s price.”

WHAT GOOD LOOKS LIKE (YEAR 1)

  • 0 major incidents. 0 minor incidents.
  • 100% successful quarterly audits.
  • 100% buy program uptime.
  • Fully staffed SDRU.
  • Builders and capital voting with their feet—gravity achieved.

THE MOVE

Start at 0.25%.

Prove the ops.

Scale to 1%.

Review.

Earn your way to 3% if—and only if—security stays flawless and governance stays boring.

Singapore wins by choosing clarity over comfort and competence over commentary.

Roar softly. Carry cold storage. Build the future before anyone else admits it’s here.

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