In a recent closed-door roundtable hosted by the Bitcoin Policy Institute, Bo Hines, executive director of the Presidential Working Group on Digital Assets, revealed the Trump administration’s interest in acquiring as much Bitcoin as possible. This information was confirmed by a White House official who clarified that any Bitcoin acquisitions would be executed in a manner that doesn’t strain taxpayers’ pockets.
The roundtable gathering comprised an impressive list of Bitcoin advocates including Strategy co-founder Michael Saylor, Marathon Digital CEO Fred Thiel, Anchorage Digital CEO Nathan McCauley, and Bitcoin Magazine CEO David Bailey. Three U.S. senators, Cynthia Lummis (R-WY), Bill Hagerty (R-TN), and Bernie Moreno (R-OH), were also in attendance.
A significant point of the discussion was the Bitcoin Act, a piece of legislation reintroduced by Senator Lummis that proposed the U.S. government purchase up to one million BTC, approximately valued at $80 billion. The Act is intended to officially establish the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve initiated by President Trump’s recent executive order. When questioned on the White House’s stance on the Bitcoin Act, Hines expressed the administration’s intent to endorse legislation supporting a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and ensuring its passage through Congress.
However, a White House official highlighted that Hines did not endorse any specific legislation at the event. The official said, “Hines did indeed make the statement about acquiring as much Bitcoin as possible, but added the caveat that any such acquisitions would be made ‘in a budget neutral way that doesn’t cost the taxpayers a dime.’”
Currently, it is estimated that the U.S. government holds nearly 200,000 BTC, obtained primarily through civil and criminal forfeitures. The concept of the government purchasing additional Bitcoin to strengthen a strategic reserve has been supported by senior White House officials, given that the acquisitions are “budget neutral.”
The feasibility of considering Lummis’ Bitcoin Act as budget neutral, however, is a subject of debate. The Act proposes an $80 billion acquisition of BTC at current prices. The primary source of funding for this purchase would be revenues generated from reevaluating the Federal Reserve’s gold certificates at market prices. The certificates were last valued in 1971 when the U.S. abandoned the gold standard, and since then, the value of gold has surged by over 6,800%.
As the administration’s interest in Bitcoin becomes more evident, it is clear that the crypto industry is increasingly intersecting with politics, potentially reshaping the future of digital assets in the United States.
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