Here’s what happened in crypto today

Today, in crypto, ECB President Christine Lagarde dismissed Bitcoin as a reserve asset, while an Illinois bill proposes a state-run BTC reserve. Tesla booked a $600 million gain on its Bitcoin holdings using a new accounting rule.ECB president ‘confident’ Bitcoin will not enter central bank reservesEuropean Central Bank President Christine Lagarde suggested the Czech National Bank was unlikely to approve of adopting Bitcoin as a reserve asset following a conversation with its governor.Speaking to members of the press on Jan. 30, Lagarde said the European Council held the view that reserves of central banks have to be “liquid, secure and safe,” implying that they would not include Bitcoin . She added that she was “confident” that BTC would not enter the reserves of banks under the council.Lagarde was addressing concerns following Czech National Bank Governor Aleš Michl’s suggestion the central bank invest in Bitcoin as part of its diversification strategy. The Czech central bank’s board voted to explore “other asset classes” on Jan. 30 for its reserves but did not specifically mention Bitcoin.The ECB president’s comments marked one of the first times the bank addressed potential BTC reserves after US President Donald Trump signed an executive order to create a working group to explore regulations around a national digital asset stockpile. At least one ECB member has suggested that the bank continue exploring the development of a digital euro in response to the Trump administration’s seeming embrace of the crypto industry.Illinois considering strategic Bitcoin reserve with 5-year hodl strategyIllinois has become the latest US state to advance a Bitcoin strategic reserve bill, seeking to deploy the world’s first cryptocurrency as a financial savings technology.Introduced by Illinois State Representative John Cabello, House Bill 1844 (HB1844) proposes the creation of a strategic Bitcoin (BTC) reserve as a “special fund in the state treasury for the purpose of holding Bitcoin as a financial asset.”Notably, the bill proposes a minimum five-year Bitcoin holding strategy after the creation of the fund, according to the filing:“Provides that the State Treasurer shall hold all Bitcoin deposited into the Fund for a duration of at least 5 years from the date that the Bitcoin enters the State’s custody.”Tesla books $600M Bitcoin gain in Q4 with new accounting ruleTesla reported a $600 million gain from its Bitcoin (BTC) holdings in Q4 2024, taking advantage of a new accounting rule allowing it to record the market value of its crypto on its balance sheet.The carmaker valued its Bitcoin stash at just over $1 billion, up from the $184 million it logged throughout previous quarters, and marked a net gain of $589 million on its BTC holdings over the quarter, which has reached 9,720 BTC, according to Bitcoin Treasuries.Tesla used a 2023 Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) rule that came into effect in mid-December, which allows firms holding crypto to report the estimated market value of the assets in their balance sheets.Previously, a firm’s crypto holdings had to decrease on the books if the assets lost value in an accounting period, and the recorded value could not increase until the assets were sold, even if the value of the holdings went up.Tesla first bought crypto in February 2021 and built up a stash of 42,902 Bitcoin until it sold 75% of its holdings in July 2022, with the sale of more than 30,000 Bitcoin fetching $936 million.