Trump administration confirms intent to acquire Bitcoin to establish a national strategic reserve

A senior White House official has confirmed that the Trump administration is intent on acquiring significant amounts of Bitcoin to establish a national strategic reserve.

A senior White House official has confirmed that the Trump administration is aiming to acquire a "substantial" amount of Bitcoin to create a national strategic reserve, as first reported by The Block.

The official, who spoke at a private roundtable hosted by the Bitcoin Policy Institute, has been identified as Bo Hines, executive director of the Presidential Working Group on Digital Assets.

During the closed-door meeting, which brought together key figures in the crypto industry, Hines was asked about the potential scale of the government’s Bitcoin acquisitions. He reportedly responded that asking how much Bitcoin the U.S. should hold was like asking how much dollar a country would need.

A White House official later confirmed Hines’ statement, adding that any government Bitcoin acquisitions would be executed in a “budget-neutral” manner, ensuring that taxpayers would not bear the financial burden.

Comprising notable guests including Michael Saylor, co-founder of MicroStrategy; Fred Thiel, CEO of Marathon Digital; Nathan McCauley, CEO of Anchorage Digital; and David Bailey, CEO of Bitcoin Magazine, the roundtable was part of a bigger “Bitcoin for America” policy conference. Additionally, present were senators Cynthia Lummis (R-WY), Bill Hagerty (R-TN), and Bernie Moreno (R-OH); all of them have been vocal advocates of Bitcoin policy in the US government.

Recently reintroduced by Senator Cynthia Lummis, the Bitcoin Act is a legislative proposal calling for the U.S. government to buy up to one million Bitcoin, valued about $80 billion. The measure also aims to formally establish the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve President Trump created his most recent executive order.

Regarding the measure, Hines answered that the government supports initiatives to enshine the reserve in law by deferring to Senator Lummis. A White House spokesman subsequently emphasized, though, that Hines did not specifically support any particular legislation during the event.

The measure suggests financing the Bitcoin purchases by revaluating the gold certificates of the Federal Reserve, last valued in 1971 upon the U.S.’s gold standard abandonment. Since then, gold prices have climbed by more than 6,800%, maybe releasing large sums of money without directly affecting the federal budget.

The U.S. Treasury Department has started talking with major crypto custody companies about safeguarding the government’s digital asset holdings as the administration advances with its Bitcoin approach.

Sources familiar with the subject disclosed that Anchorage Digital was among the companies that visited Treasury officials to address security issues for holding Bitcoin on behalf of the federal government.

Although McCauley admitted that these conversations transpired, he refrained to offer particular information regarding the possible involvement of crypto custodians in government policies.

The U.S. government is thought to have about 200,000 BTC at present, mostly obtained through civil and criminal asset forfeitures. Should Lummis’s bill pass, this figure might rise five-fold, perhaps becoming the United States among the biggest institutional holders of Bitcoin worldwide.

The great interest of the government in Bitcoin indicates a major change in American policy about digital assets. Earlier leadership, especially former SEC Chair Gary Gensler, saw the government mostly trying to enforce procedures against crypto companies or integrate digital assets into the national financial strategy.

Should the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve become legislation, it might create a new standard for how the U.S. government interacts with digital assets, therefore impacting world financial regulations. Proponents contend that this action will establish the United States as a leader in Bitcoin acceptance, while detractors wonder whether government participation into Bitcoin markets might have unanticipated financial effects.

With the Trump administration pressing down on Bitcoin, the next six months will be crucial in deciding whether this bold agenda defines American economic policy.