The US State Department has launched a program intended to “advance diplomatic efforts on digital freedom and freedom of expression,” with the Bitcoin Policy Institute (BPI) named among its founding partners.

In a Friday X post, BPI said it would participate in the State Department’s Freedom Tech Excellence Program (FTEP) alongside Palantir Technologies, Anduril Industries and the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation: https://x.com/bitcoinpolicy/status/2080640590740365398

According to BPI, the program will allow its employees “to work alongside state department experts and defend digital freedoms around the world.” The State Department lists the partnership on its current partnerships page:

“FTEP brings private sector talent to the Department for limited-term assignments to advance diplomatic efforts on key issues including online freedom of expression, privacy-enhancing technologies, countering digital surveillance, and responsible AI governance,” the State Department said.

The partnership places a Bitcoin-focused policy organization within a State Department initiative framed around digital rights, privacy and surveillance issues rather than crypto market regulation. The program’s stated focus on privacy-enhancing technologies and countering digital surveillance overlaps with policy debates in which encryption, open networks and financial privacy are often discussed as part of broader internet freedom efforts.

The Bitcoin Policy Institute was founded in 2021 as a “non-partisan research and advocacy” organization. The group has supported efforts to codify into law US President Donald Trump’s executive order establishing a strategic crypto reserve.

As of July, lawmakers in the US Congress had not passed legislation to implement Trump’s March 2025 executive order.