Is the US government allowed to sell gold to buy bitcoin?
When President Donald Trump signed an executive order establishing a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve (SBR), he ordered David Sacks to assemble a team and plan to buy bitcoin (BTC) for the nation.
Sacks’ top appointee, Executive Director of the President’s Council of Advisers Bo Hines, thinks one mechanism for buying BTC is selling gold.
Hines called the proposed move a “budget-neutral” way to acquire BTC.
The claim that the US should sell its gold sparked immediate debate. Not only does gold have over 5,000 years of history as a sovereign store of value, the metal is a dominant asset on central bankers’ balance sheets.
Hines thinks the US may legally sell BTC through at least three methods.
The first method is democratically clear: Congressional authorization. In the US, Congress approves the federal budget and has constitutional authority to allocate resources.
One bill among many that is slowly working its way through Congress, Senator Cynthia Lummis’ (R-Wyoming) Bitcoin Act of 2025, would require the US to obtain 1 million BTC. That bill specifically calls for the sale of gold to fund a substantial amount of the purchases.
Buying bitcoin for the SBR without Congressional authorization
Even in the absence of congressional authorization, Trump could attempt to claim authority to sell gold to buy BTC without passing additional laws. For example, a second method for the legal acquisition of sovereign BTC is to reconstitute the US Exchange Stabilization Fund.
Section 10 of the US Gold Reserve Act of 1934 created the Exchange Stabilization Fund. In this fund, the US Treasury Secretary has the discretion to stabilize the value of the dollar by dealing in foreign exchange markets, gold, and instruments of credit and securities.
Mechanically, the Exchange Stabilization Fund could sell gold for BTC using this “instruments of credit” category. The Treasury could, for example, sell gold to purchase a claim on future BTC generated by US mining firms. This transaction would be a loan or instrument of credit denominated in BTC yet permissible under the US Gold Reserve Act of 1934.
The treasury secretary could also work with other financial institutions to acquire bonds or notes denominated in BTC to acquire de facto exposure to the asset itself.
Read more: Standard measure of bitcoin-gold correlation goes to zero
Yes, the US government may legally sell gold for bitcoin
Although the Exchange Stabilization Fund has traditionally relied on gold and foreign currencies to stabilize foreign exchange (FX) rates for the US dollar, Trump, Sacks, Hines, and others could try to convince Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent that BTC deserves to join that basket of currencies.
A third method for the legal transfer of value from gold to BTC is to leverage the US government’s unrealized gains from revaluing its gold certificates. This accounting maneuver avoids physical gold sales while capturing latent value from decades of gold price appreciation.
Specifically, the US Treasury values around 8,000 tons of gold near a 1973 statutory rate of $42 per ounce. By reissuing its gold certificates to reflect current market rates at $3,000 per ounce, the Treasury would recognize over $700 billion in gains that could be used to acquire BTC.
No matter which path the Trump administration chooses, there are obvious risks to selling gold for BTC, not the least of which is the crypto’s notorious volatility and proclivity for stomach-churning drawdowns.
However, both Congress and the treasury secretary do possess at least three avenues for obtaining BTC on behalf of the US government and its SBR.
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