Trump Admin's Bitcoin Plan: Funding a National Reserve with Tariffs

Bo Hines, Executive Director of the Presidential Council of Advisers on Digital Assets, suggested that the U.S. government create a national reserve of Bitcoin through tariff revenues. The move would build up Bitcoin as a national digital asset with no added national debt or tax but utilizing revenues realized from tariffs implemented during the Trump presidency. The second option discussed is revaluing U.S. Treasury gold certificates, a paper excess to be used in buying Bitcoin without requiring sale of underlying gold.

The government has already established the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve (SBR) to purchase as much as one million Bitcoin over a few years, which will likely be paid for through the Bitcoin Act of 2025. The reserve will be constituted initially with Bitcoin assets forfeited in federal criminal cases, and future purchases financed by budget-neutral sources such as tariff receipts and creative financial mechanisms. This has no cost to taxpayers.

Hines is calling on the U.S. to hold Bitcoin at a time when global competition and increasing mining difficulty are intensifying, in terms of considering Bitcoin as "digital gold." Separate from the SBR, the White House is crafting a general digital asset plan to cover crypto innovation, regulation, and establishment of U.S. dollar stablecoins, an unprecedented change of course for asset management by America in the presence of holding Bitcoin in national reserves.