Bo Hines told the 2025 Bitcoin Conference in Las Vegas on May 27 that the federal government will hold every Bitcoin (BTC) already in custody and pursue additional budget-neutral ways to increase its Strategic Bitcoin Reserve.
Hines, who serves as the executive director of the President’s Council of Advisers for Digital Assets, described Bitcoin as “digital gold” and said the asset’s scarcity requires permanent custody.
He distinguished the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve (SBR) from the broader Digital Assets National Stockpile by stressing an absolute prohibition on disposals. On March 6, an executive order signed by President Donald Trump established both concepts.
Hines added:
“We’re not going to sell any Bitcoin that we possibly have in the US government, period.”
Furthermore, he highlighted that the US recognizes Bitcoin as a commodity with “intrinsic stored value.” This status justifies a separate, single-asset reserve.
Open-ended accumulation with budget neutrality
Hines rejected the idea of a numeric target for federal holdings and clarified that there is no cap. He said:
“We want as much as we can possibly get.”
He added the reserve framework instructs officials to find “budget-neutral ways” to grow the stack, and the working group continues to study options that meet that condition.
Conference speakers suggested ways to add Bitcoin to the reserve without using taxpayer funds.
VanEck’s head of digital assets research, Matthew Sigel, shared the concept of a royalty tied to Bitcoin mining in the US. Miners would pay a fraction of their block rewards in BTC to a government wallet, streamlining the accumulation process.
Furthermore, crypto mining plants that utilize wasted methane would be exempt from taxes.
Galaxy Digital’s head of research, Alex Thorn, thinks the “quickest pathway” is to sell altcoins from the Digital Asset Stockpile and use the proceeds to acquire more BTC.
He added:
“In fact, that’s elegant, because you don’t even need to touch cash. You could sell an altcoin/BTC pair, cash never appears. There is nothing for the vultures of government to grab onto.”
