According to Bo Hines, a senior Whitehouse advisor on crypto who spoke on the Crypto in America Podcast, the US could cash in on its gold holdings to fund its Strategic Bitcoin Reserve (SBR).
Hines suggested that the Trump administration would explore creative ways of funding the SBR without further burdening the American taxpayer.
His sentiments seem to be an attempt to pacify Americans, many of whom, according to a recent survey, oppose the SBR. The Data for Progress advocacy group poll showed 51% of American voters disapprove of the idea, placing it last on the list of priority areas for federal funding.
America’s budget-neutral means of financing its SBR
Hines explained that his think tank had received countless ideas on how to fund the SBR. He, however, hinted that the one(s) it would settle on would have to be budget-neutral. On that account, the US could use the gains from its gold certificates to acquire more Bitcoin.
The crypto council head honcho also held that the certificates were massively undervalued compared to actual gold values. Therefore, getting their correct valuation, as Senator Cynthia Lummins’ Bitcoin Act 2025 proposes, would give America the finances it needs to build its BTC stash.
He said, “If we actually realize the gains on [these holdings], that would be a budget-neutral way to acquire more Bitcoin.”
How does revaluing the gold certificates work?
Lummins’ push and, therefore, Hines’ stance have merit, too. According to the Federal Reserve Bank of St Louis, the Fed banks holding gold certificates value them at $42.22 per troy ounce. That figure pales in comparison to the $3,037, which is a similar unit of the precious metal fetches in the market.
America owns about 8,133 metric tons of gold, which comes to 260.8 million troy ounces (using the formula, 1 metric ton = 32,150.7 troy ounces). Gold’s current price gives you a market value of roughly $792 billion ($3,037*260.8M). Meanwhile, the book value is slightly over $11 billion ($42.22*260.8M), bringing potential gains to over $780 billion ($792B – $11B).
As we can see, revaluing these certificates to reflect gold’s prevailing prices could unlock plenty of dormant capital. Such a windfall would provide the US with enough liquidity to set up the SBR without tapping into taxpayers’ funds.
Overcoming challenges and exploring alternatives to revaluing gold certificates
While the financial advantages are clear, questions remain about revalued gold certificates’ scalability. Such a shift could induce pushback from the Federal Reserve and the Treasury Department itself, since it would risk impacting monetary policy and inflation expectations.
Additionally, changing the valuation of gold reserves might create legal and accounting complications that require congressional approval. Critics argue that revaluing gold does not generate new wealth but merely changes accounting metrics, making it a politically sensitive issue.
Revaluing gold certificates is a strong possibility, but other budget-neutral approaches are worth contemplating. The U.S. could, for instance, consider issuing Bitcoin-backed bonds, as El Salvador has, or allocate some of the confiscated assets from criminal crypto activities toward funding the reserve.
Other experts have proposed tokenizing segments of federal assets and allowing private investors to contribute to the SBR via decentralized finance (DeFi) methods.
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