David Sacks, the White House’s top official on AI and cryptocurrency, has floated the possibility of the U.S. government increasing its Bitcoin holdings — but only under strict fiscal conditions.
Speaking at the Bitcoin 2025 conference during a fireside chat with Gemini co-founders Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, Sacks explained that while there’s no firm commitment, a legal and strategic path does exist for further acquisitions of the digital asset. The catch? Any such purchase must be executed in a “budget-neutral” manner.
“without a new tax or adding to the debt,”
Sacks stated, pointing to the need for approval from key economic policymakers like Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick or Treasury Secretary Scott Besson.
“maybe by finding the money from some other program that’s not using it — then we could potentially acquire more Bitcoin.”
His remarks align with a March 6 executive order that not only allows the federal government to hold Bitcoin seized in criminal or civil cases, but also authorizes new acquisitions, as long as they’re financially neutral.
Sacks emphasized that either the Treasury or Commerce Department has the legal authority to set up such a program, provided it stays within budgetary constraints.
“if they do and they can figure out how to fund it, they actually do have presidential authorization,”
he added.
As of April, the U.S. government holds approximately 198,012 BTC, worth over $21 billion at current market prices, according to data from CoinGecko. The majority of this came from high-profile seizures: 69,370 BTC in November 2020 and 51,351 BTC in March 2022 from the defunct Silk Road marketplace, and another 94,636 BTC in early 2022 from Bitfinex hacker Ilya Lichtenstein.
Although the Department of Justice received clearance in January to liquidate its full 198,109 BTC stash, the government has so far sold only a small portion. In March 2023, it offloaded 9,861 BTC for $215.7 million.
Hey American tax payers – the Biden administration is instructing the DOJ to market sell thousands of Bitcoin during a bull run knowing that the incoming administration intends in buying Bitcoin and will in fact have to pay more to get the very Bitcoin they own today back.…
— Jason Ai. Williams (@GoingParabolic) January 9, 2025
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