Crypto czar Sacks says US could possibly ‘acquire more Bitcoin’

David Sacks, the White House AI and crypto czar, has suggested a potential pathway for the US government to acquire more Bitcoin, contingent upon budget-neutral funding. During a May 27th fireside chat at the Bitcoin 2025 conference with the Winklevoss twins, Sacks clarified that while he couldn’t make promises, a route exists for increasing the government’s Bitcoin holdings. This hinges on securing approval from either Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick or Treasury Secretary Scott Besson, coupled with a funding mechanism that avoids raising taxes or increasing the national debt. Sacks proposed identifying funds from underutilized government programs as a possible solution.

The feasibility of this proposal rests on the willingness of the Commerce or Treasury Department to embrace the initiative and devise a budget-neutral funding strategy. Sacks emphasized that presidential authorization for such purchases already exists, referencing a March 6th executive order establishing a crypto reserve. This order explicitly allows for additional Bitcoin acquisitions if funded without impacting the national debt. The executive order primarily focuses on accumulating Bitcoin seized through criminal or civil asset forfeiture. However, it includes a provision allowing for further purchases under budget-neutral conditions.

Currently, the US government holds an estimated 198,012 Bitcoin, valued at over $21 billion based on current market prices (as of April data from CoinGecko). A significant portion of these holdings stems from two major seizures related to the Silk Road marketplace (69,370 BTC in November 2020 and 51,351 BTC in March 2022) and the Bitfinex hack (94,636 BTC seized on January 31, 2022). In January 2025, the Department of Justice received authorization to sell 198,109 Bitcoin, though a smaller portion (9,861 BTC) was sold in March 2023 for $215.7 million. Sacks’s proposal, therefore, represents a strategic shift towards actively increasing Bitcoin reserves, subject to budgetary constraints and bureaucratic approval.