The Trump administration’s sweeping tariffs, which have roiled global markets over the past few weeks, may just become instrumental to funding the U.S. Strategic Bitcoin Reserve without using taxpayer money.
While the extensive tariffs threatened and implemented over the past month have escalated and jolted crypto markets as the Trump administration pursues an “America First” trade policy, a key White House advisor thinks the revenues from it could be used to add to the country’s Bitcoin stash.
Bo Hines, executive director of the Presidential Council of Advisers on Digital Assets, said in a White House interview with Professional Capital Management’s Anthony Pompliano that the Trump administration is exploring several “budget-neutral” methods to get more Bitcoin.
“We’re looking at many creative ways, whether it be from tariffs or something else,” Hines said.
Hines’ ideas come after President Donald Trump signed an executive order that established the country’s creation of the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve last month. Data from Arkham tracking the U.S. stash shows it’s currently at 192,012 BTC.
Following Trump’s executive order, a separate document circulated from the Federal Register detailing a presidential directive requiring federal agencies to disclose all Bitcoin and digital asset holdings to the Treasury Secretary. That order’s deadline was last Saturday.
Hines adds that there is a “180-day landmark that’s on the horizon” as the federal agencies go through recommendations for acquiring more Bitcoin. “We’ll comb through all the reports and then we’ll produce a comprehensive piece of work,” Hines said.
Aside from the “creative” strategy of using tariff revenues for buying Bitcoin, Hines cites Senator Cynthia Lummis’s Bitcoin Act of 2025, which would revalue Treasury gold certificates from their outdated valuation of approximately $43 per ounce to reflect current market prices exceeding $3,000 per ounce.
Such an adjustment could free billions in value for Bitcoin acquisition without requiring congressional appropriations.
Treasury Secretary Besson and Commerce Secretary Lutnick join “many great actors” working through an inter-agency digital assets working group to develop acquisition strategies aligned with the administration’s goal of making the U.S. “the Bitcoin superpower of the globe,” Hines said.
“We’ll come together and flesh out some of these ideas and really get to the best solution,” he added.
Edited by Sebastian Sinclair
Daily Debrief Newsletter
Start every day with the top news stories right now, plus original features, a podcast, videos and more.
