The Altgeld Bitcoin Reserve was founded in early 2025 by Tolbyus Shephard, who grew up in Altgeld Gardens, with the support of Bernadette Williams, president of the Altgeld Gardens Local Advisory Council. On October 14, 2025, the Illinois House adopted House Resolution 446, which recognized ABR as the nation's first community-run Bitcoin reserve and commended Altgeld Gardens for its leadership in financial empowerment.
Altgeld Gardens: A History of Resilience and Community Empowerment
Built in the 1940s to house Black World War II veterans, defense workers, and their families, Altgeld Gardens has a long history of community organizing and resilience.
The neighborhood later became known as the "Toxic Doughnut" because of the industrial pollution, landfills, and waste facilities surrounding it. Resident Hazel Johnson became a pioneer of the environmental justice movement, founding People for Community Recovery in 1979 to campaign for safer living conditions. In the 1980s, a young Barack Obama worked alongside Altgeld residents as a community organizer, years before becoming President of the United States.
For Tolbyus Shephard, who grew up in Altgeld Gardens, the reserve builds on that history by creating a community-owned financial asset intended to benefit future generations.
"As someone who grew up in Altgeld Gardens, I founded the Altgeld Bitcoin Reserve (ABR) with a simple belief: if nations, states, wealthy individuals, and major institutions can build long-term financial reserves to secure their futures, why can't underserved communities do the same? Our communities deserve the opportunity to build, own, and preserve wealth for generations to come," said Tolbyus Shephard, founder of the Altgeld Bitcoin Reserve.
Ownership rather than programming
ABR was built around a question that community development rarely asks: not what programs a neighborhood receives, but what it can permanently own.
The reserve operates under multisignature custody with public proof-of-reserves, allowing residents and the public to verify its holdings directly on the Bitcoin network. Its governing framework prohibits speculative trading, lending, leverage, private withdrawals, and personal enrichment. Reserve Bitcoin is not loaned, pledged as collateral, or rehypothecated under any circumstances.
Alongside the reserve, ABR runs financial-literacy and Bitcoin education programming for residents, including the ABR Bitcoin School for young people, parents, and seniors without technical or financial backgrounds. In March 2026, the organization held a community summit at the Altgeld Community Center, bringing residents together with local leaders.
"Most of what reaches a community like Altgeld arrives as a program, and programs end," said Himanshu Sahay, Co-Founder of Arch Lending. "An asset the community holds and can independently verify is a different proposition. We are supporting this as a contributor, not as a lender. The Bitcoin belongs to the reserve, and nothing about our involvement changes that."
"Altgeld has received investment before. What it has not had is something it owns outright and can pass on," said Shephard. "Private partners taking this seriously is what moves it from an idea to something residents can see."
"A year ago, the Illinois House recognized Altgeld Gardens as home to the nation's first community-run Bitcoin reserve," said Illinois State Representative John M. Cabello, Assistant Minority Leader. "This reserve has always been about education, resilience, and generational wealth for underserved neighborhoods. Private partners stepping in to support it is the kind of innovation and community-centered progress we should be encouraging across Illinois."
A model built to be repeated
ABR describes Altgeld Gardens as a proof of concept for a broader Community Bitcoin Reserve framework, with common standards for custody, transparency, education, and governance that other communities could adopt. The organization has engaged officials in Chicago and Illinois about how such a model might be supported, and related legislation remains under consideration in the Illinois General Assembly.
Arch Lending receives no ownership interest, repayment right, investment return, or governance authority in the reserve, and does not control reserve transactions.
ABR is also open to additional community and private-sector contributions as it works to grow the reserve and expand its financial-literacy and Bitcoin education initiatives.
Supporting the Altgeld Bitcoin Reserve
Individuals and organizations can donate Bitcoin directly to the reserve through communitybitcoinreserve.org. Select Altgeld Gardens using the orange marker on the map, scroll to the bottom of the page, and generate a Bitcoin address. Donations made this way go directly to the Altgeld Bitcoin Reserve.
About Arch Lending
Arch Lending is a U.S.-based lending platform that lets holders of alternative assets borrow against their holdings without selling. It supports Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana, XRP, PAX Gold, and Tether Gold as collateral. Eligible client assets are held 1:1 in segregated custody with Anchorage Digital, a federally chartered bank and qualified custodian, and are not rehypothecated. Arch Lending is operated by ChainFi, Inc. Learn more at archlending.com.
About the Altgeld Bitcoin Reserve
The Altgeld Bitcoin Reserve is a Bitcoin-only, long-term community reserve established in Altgeld Gardens, Chicago. It was recognized by the Illinois House through House Resolution 446 in October 2025. Learn more at communitybitcoinreserve.org.
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SOURCE Arch Lending
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