A senior official in the White House focused on cryptocurrency indicated this week that the Trump administration is exploring the option of revaluing long-held gold certificates as an innovative approach to boost the country’s Bitcoin (BTC) reserves without increasing the federal deficit.
Bo Hines, the head of the President’s Council of Advisers on Digital Assets, mentioned in an interview on the Crypto in America podcast that the administration is considering budget-neutral strategies for acquiring more Bitcoin to add to the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve.
Earlier this month, President Donald Trump issued an executive order authorizing the establishment of a national Bitcoin reserve, which signals a significant change in the U.S. government’s approach to digital assets.
Currently, the government possesses approximately 207,000 BTC, mainly obtained through asset forfeitures, making it the largest known Bitcoin holder among nations.
### Gold Revaluation
According to Hines, the administration is actively brainstorming many “creative” ways to enhance Bitcoin holdings.
He said, “There’s been countless ideas… If it’s budget neutral and doesn’t cost the taxpayer a dime, we’ll see whatever creative ideas we can come up with.”
One concept gaining popularity involves adjusting the value of gold-backed certificates that are currently grossly undervalued.
As things stand, gold certificates held by Federal Reserve banks are valued at a long-established statutory price of $42.22 per ounce, a figure that has not changed since the early 1970s. With gold prices now surpassing $3,000 an ounce, the disparity between this book value and the market value signifies a substantial potential gain — funds that could be used for further digital asset acquisitions, according to Hines.
This idea aligns with provisions in the proposed BITCOIN Act of 2025 introduced by Senator Cynthia Lummis, which urges the Federal Reserve to return outstanding gold certificates to the Treasury for reissuance at a price that mirrors the actual market value of the gold.
Proponents believe that revaluing these certificates could produce billions in unrealized profits — capital that could be directed towards enhancing the federal Bitcoin reserve. Lawmakers from both the Senate and the House are collaborating in a bipartisan effort to advance this legislation.
Hines noted that while no decisions have been made yet, discussions among various agencies are actively taking place.
He remarked, “We’re going to hear some tremendous ideas about how we can do it. I just don’t want to box us in yet to what that actually looks like because I want to be able to hear from everybody.”
### Unique Asset
Hines emphasized that the administration perceives Bitcoin as a distinctive asset class, different from other digital currencies. He pointed out that its decentralized nature and finite supply render it particularly appealing as a long-term store of value.
Hines elaborated, “David [Sacks] likes to say it has the immaculate conception, meaning there’s no issuer. It has intrinsic stored value, and it’s traditionally accepted as a store of value as well. We wanted to make that distinction [between stockpile and reserve].”
The administration’s strategy regarding digital assets includes separate pathways for Bitcoin and a wider “stockpile” of altcoins, which are expected to be governed by different legal and regulatory frameworks.
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick has previously highlighted that Bitcoin will be treated distinctly from other tokens under the executive order.