President Donald Trump’s administration is stepping up efforts to significantly increase its Bitcoin holdings, a senior administration official revealed in a recent meeting with cryptocurrency industry leaders. During a confidential roundtable discussion hosted by the Bitcoin Policy Institute, Bo Hines, executive director of the Presidential Working Group on Digital Assets, outlined the White House’s plan to acquire “as much Bitcoin as possible.”
Hines’ statement came amid a debate over the United States’ financial capacity to expand its cryptocurrency reserves. In response to a question about the amount of Bitcoin that could be acquired, Hines compared the situation to the desire to accumulate dollars, indicating an unlimited aspiration on the part of the government.
An official representative confirmed Hines’ statement, adding that the planned purchases would be made in a way that would not impact the federal budget, avoiding additional costs for taxpayers.
The private event was attended by industry notables including Strategy co-founder Michael Saylor; Marathon Digital CEO Fred Thiel; Anchorage Digital CEO Nathan McCauley; and Bitcoin Magazine CEO David Bailey. In addition to these figures, three U.S. senators, Cynthia Lummis, Bill Hagerty, and Bernie Moreno, were also in attendance.
The discussion escalated when one of the participants questioned Hines about the White House’s support for the Bitcoin Act, proposed by Lummis that aims to legally establish the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve. Hines, turning to Lummis, assured her that the administration would support the legislation that seeks to formalize this reserve, pledging to push for its approval by Congress.
Despite Hines’ informal endorsement of these initiatives, it was emphasized that he did not support any specific legislation during the event.
The U.S. government is currently estimated to own nearly 200,000 BTC, mostly obtained through forfeiture actions. There is a growing movement among senior officials to continue acquiring Bitcoin to bolster the strategic reserve, as long as such acquisitions are made without impacting the budget.
The viability of the Bitcoin Act, which calls for the purchase of approximately $80 billion worth of Bitcoin, hinges on suggested accounting adjustments to Federal Reserve gold certificates, revalued at market prices since the last valuation in 1971, when the U.S. abandoned the gold standard. Since then, the value of gold has increased by more than 6,800%.