U.S. State Department to Launch Freedom Tech Program With Bitcoin Policy Institute and Palantir as Founding Partners
Key Takeaways
- •The U.S. State Department is launching the Freedom Tech Excellence Program to promote digital freedom worldwide, with the Bitcoin Policy Institute included among its key partners.
- •The program will focus on five priority areas encompassing digital free expression, countering unlawful surveillance, privacy-enhancing technologies, responsible AI governance, and online user safeguards.
- •FTEP will temporarily place private sector personnel inside the State Department to provide technical expertise on digital freedom diplomatic initiatives.
- •President Trump signed a March 2025 executive order creating a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve capitalized with approximately 200,000 Bitcoin already held by the U.S. government through forfeiture proceedings.
- •The initiative reflects the Trump administration's increasingly favorable stance toward cryptocurrency policy and the integration of digital assets into federal initiatives.
The U.S. State Department is preparing to launch a new initiative that includes Bitcoin in a broader effort to promote digital freedom worldwide.
The program, called the Freedom Tech Excellence Program, will bring the State Department together with the Bitcoin Policy Institute, data analytics company Palantir Technologies, defense technology firm Anduril Industries, and the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation. The partners are expected to work on issues including online surveillance, encryption, artificial intelligence governance, and the protection of free expression on the internet.
According to the program’s stated goals, participants will concentrate on five priority areas: First Amendment and free expression protections in the digital age; efforts to counter unlawful digital surveillance and online scams; privacy-enhancing technologies, including strong encryption and VPNs; responsible governance of emerging technologies such as AI; and safeguards for children and other users online.
The participation of the Bitcoin Policy Institute places Bitcoin and blockchain technology within the State Department’s digital freedom agenda. The organization has long argued that Bitcoin can be relevant to resisting censorship and financial surveillance in authoritarian states, and its role in the program reflects that policy focus.
The Freedom Tech Excellence Program, or FTEP, will be structured around limited-term assignments. Under that model, private sector personnel will be placed temporarily inside the State Department, where they will work on diplomatic initiatives tied to specific digital freedom issues. That structure is significant because many of the program’s target areas, from encryption to AI governance, require technical expertise that is often concentrated outside government.
The initiative comes as President Trump’s administration has adopted a more favorable approach toward cryptocurrency policy and the inclusion of digital asset-related initiatives in government. Trump campaigned on support for the crypto sector, and his administration has taken steps related to both regulation and federal use of elements of the industry.
In March 2025, President Trump signed an executive order creating a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and a separate U.S. Digital Asset Stockpile. The reserve was capitalized with roughly 200,000 Bitcoin already held by the U.S. government through criminal and civil forfeiture proceedings.
The executive order described Bitcoin in terms similar to strategic reserves the United States maintains for assets and materials such as gold, petroleum, and pharmaceuticals, treating it as a scarce national asset rather than solely as a speculative instrument.
The original report was published by Bitcoin Magazine and written by Mathew Di Salvo.
