The United States administration can acquire additional Bitcoin (BTC) for the US strategic reserve by reallocating portions of the tariff revenue surplus into BTC purchases, as stated by Adam Livingston, author of “The Bitcoin Age and The Great Harvest.”
Livingston suggested utilizing a segment of the surpluses accrued from trade tariffs each month and directing that into secure, cold-storage BTC that is neither traded, staked, sold, rehypothecated, allocated for programs, used to secure loans, nor lent out for yield. He remarked:
“As of July, we’ve collected $135.7 billion in customs duties — twice last year’s rate. Allow me to reiterate that we’re holding a $70 billion surplus from tariffs, and we haven’t even completed the fiscal year.”
This surplus remains unallocated. It hasn’t been pre-spent. It’s not associated with Medicare, entitlements, or servicing debt. It’s simply existing without a designated use, ” Livingston elaborated.
The initiative to finance the US Bitcoin strategic reserve using the tariff surplus may present a method for the government to procure more BTC under US President Trump’s executive order, indicating that further BTC can exclusively be acquired through budget-neutral methods.
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US Treasury Secretary sends ambiguous signals on strategic reserve
Scott Bessent, secretary of the United States Treasury Department, announced on Thursday that the US government would not be acquiring any new BTC for the strategic reserve
“We’re not planning to purchase that, but we will utilize confiscated assets and keep building that up,” Bessent informed Fox Business.
Nevertheless, Bessent reversed later that day, clarifying that the US administration is still “exploring budget-neutral options” to accumulate additional digital currency.
Numerous budget-neutral strategies have been put forth, including reassessing the Treasury’s gold reserves, which are currently valued at merely $42.22 per troy ounce, while gold is trading on spot markets for about $3,335 per ounce.
Other budget-neutral pathways include reallocating some of the government’s existing reserve assets, such as selling oil from the strategic petroleum reserve, in order to obtain more BTC.
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