Key Takeaways
- Bo Hines suggests using unrealized gold certificate gains to buy Bitcoin.
- The certificates are still valued at $42.22/oz, while spot gold trades above $3,000.
- The U.S. currently holds 207,000 BTC, the most of any nation-state.
Bo Hines, executive director of the President’s Council of Advisers on Digital Assets, has suggested that the U.S. government could grow its Strategic Bitcoin Reserve by realizing gains on undervalued gold certificates—a move he says would be budget-neutral.
Ideas for recalculation
“There’s been countless ideas,” Hines said on the Crypto in America podcast, pointing to Senator Cynthia Lummis’ Bitcoin Act of 2025, which proposes recalculating the value of gold certificates to reflect today’s market prices.
Current valuation of gold certificates
Federal Reserve banks currently value gold certificates at a statutory $42.22 per troy ounce, while spot gold trades above $3,000.
Hines said:
If we actually realize the gains on [these holdings], that would be a budget-neutral way to acquire more Bitcoin.
The BITCOIN Act
The BITCOIN Act would require the Federal Reserve to return all outstanding gold certificates to the Treasury, which would then issue updated certificates based on fair market value.
These could be used to fund Bitcoin purchases without additional government spending.
Executive Order on Bitcoin acquisition
President Trump’s March 6 executive order emphasized that any Bitcoin acquisition strategy must not “cost the taxpayer a dime.”
Hines reaffirmed that stance, stating:
We’ll see whatever creative ideas we can come up with.
Current holdings of Bitcoin
Currently, the U.S. government holds around 207,000 BTC, primarily from asset seizures, making it the world’s largest known nation-state holder.
Bitcoin’s unique status
Hines also underscored Bitcoin’s unique status, calling it “a commodity, not a security,” and referenced David Sacks’ description of Bitcoin’s origin as an “immaculate conception.”
