The US is exploring many ways to increase its Bitcoin reserve without taxpayer dollars, including through tariff revenue and revaluing the government’s gold certificates, according to the executive director of the Trump administration’s crypto council.

“We’re looking at many creative ways, whether it be from tariffs, there’s literally countless ways in which you can do this,” Bo Hines of the Presidential Council of Advisers for Digital Assets said in a recent interview with Professional Capital Management CEO Anthony Pompliano.

Hines said the Treasury could revalue its gold certificates, valued at $43 per ounce, to the current market price of $3,200 per ounce, creating a paper surplus to fund Bitcoin purchases without selling gold.

“Everything is on the table, and like we’ve said, we want as much as we can get, so we’re going to make sure that no stone is unturned,” Hines said in the interview, which aired on April 14.

LATEST: Executive Director of Digital Assets Bo Hines said the US government may buy Bitcoin using tariff revenue. pic.twitter.com/Gfc2HiEJoL

— Cointelegraph (@Cointelegraph) April 15, 2025

The Bitcoin Reserve will initially comprise assets forfeited in government criminal cases but allow for the government to develop budget-neutral strategies for acquiring additional Bitcoin.

During the interview, Hines said the White House is also developing a digital asset framework outlining how the US plans to support crypto innovation and promote US dollar stablecoins worldwide.

“It’ll provide clarity on many aspects of this space, whether it be from tokenization to staking, all sorts of things,” Hines said, adding that the Trump administration has been moving rapidly to make America the “crypto capital of the world.”

Related: Bitcoin takes back seat as Trump, Bukele focus on trade and immigration

“We’re moving at tech speed, it’s like we’re a startup in this building,” Hines said. “We’ll continue moving this along quite quickly.”

The report Hines referred to is expected to be published in late July or August.

No mention of Trump’s crypto ventures

Hines wasn’t asked to address some of Trump’s potential conflicts of interest in the crypto space, including the controversial Official Trump (TRUMP) memecoin and the Trump family’s business venture with World Liberty Financial — which have been raised by the opposition party.

I watched this interview in full.

Pomp didn’t ask about:

1. How much Bitcoin the US government owns, and the internal audit the Trump administration told us that should have already been completed

2. Donald Trump’s growing list of conflicts of interests in the cryptocurrency… https://t.co/bVnXBkCmK1

— Pledditor (@Pledditor) April 14, 2025

Last month, House Representative Gerald E. Connolly referred to the TRUMP token as a “money grab” that resulted in Trump-linked entities cashing in on over $100 million worth of trading fees.

Representative Maxine Waters also criticized Trump’s memecoin on Jan. 20, referring to a rug pull while claiming the launch represented the “worst of crypto.”

The White House’s AI and crypto czar, David Sacks, said the TRUMP memecoin was nothing more than a collectible.

Hines also wasn’t asked whether the US completed an internal audit of its Bitcoin (BTC) holdings — a task that was supposed to be completed within 30 days of US President Donald Trump’s March 6 executive order establishing the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve.

Magazine: Trump’s crypto ventures raise conflict of interest, insider trading questions

Gibraltar-based Xapo Bank, a private bank and Bitcoin custodian, reported a surge in Bitcoin trading volumes in the first quarter as its high-net-worth members scooped up Bitcoin amid market turbulence. 

Xapo Bank said that Q1 trading volume grew 14.2% compared to the Q4 2024, as the Bitcoin (BTC) price drop helped drive trading volume growth on its platform. It said that during the decline, its high net-worth members “actively bought the dip,” reflecting these members’ “commitment to the long-term potential of Bitcoin.”

In the first quarter of 2025, Bitcoin had its worst start to a year since 2018, closing the quarter down 13%. 

The crypto-friendly bank became the first licensed bank to launch interest-bearing Bitcoin and fiat banking accounts in the UK in 2025 and launched Bitcoin-backed USD loans of up to $1 million in March 2025.

Xapo Bank’s self-selected poll on X showed respondents favored using Bitcoin for savings and investment. Source: Xapo Bank

It also recorded a 50% quarter-on-quarter jump in euro deposits. “This rapid increase in volume came amidst mounting concern about the future of US dollar primacy and the threat of a US recession as markets braced for Trump’s planned ‘Liberation Day’ in April,” the bank said.

There were also significant shifts in Xapo members’ stablecoin deposit patterns, with USDC deposits up 19.8% in Q1 and Tether (USDT) deposits down 13.4%. This shift comes as European cryptocurrency exchanges moved to delist Tether in order to comply with Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation regulations.

“Xapo Bank member data shows that despite short-term headwinds, the bigger picture for Bitcoin remains strong and current volatility does not diminish Bitcoin’s importance,” said Gadi Chait, Xapo Bank’s head of investment. 

Chait added that “while global events painted an erratic picture, the opportunity for Bitcoin has always been in its long-term performance, not its short-term volatility.”

Related: Exclusive: Inside a Swiss nuclear bunker’s secret Bitcoin vault

Crypto exchange Bitget also sees Q1 trading volumes surge

Market turmoil also prompted a flurry of activity on digital currency exchange Bitget, according to its Q1 2025 Transparency Report. 

Bitget’s total trading volume hit $2.1 trillion in the first quarter of 2025, as spot trading volume saw a quarter-on-quarter increase of 159%, rising to $387 billion.

This surge in trading volume came as Bitget’s total user base grew by almost 20%, with the exchange adding an additional 4.89 million users on its centralized exchange and 15 million users on its Bitget Wallet app — bringing its total global user count to over 120 million.

Bitget’s CEO, Gracy Chen, said the exchange will continue to “focus on institutional-grade infrastructure and double down on expanding its Web3 presence through our ecosystem.”

In February, Bitget loaned rival exchange Bybit 40,000 ETH, valued at approximately $100 million, after Bybit suffered a major hack. The loan has since been fully repaid by Bybit.

“No interest, no collateral — this was simply about supporting a peer in need. Great to see Bybit fully recovered, and we never doubted the return of the loan,” Chen said. 

Magazine: Bitcoin eyes $100K by June, Shaq to settle NFT lawsuit, and more: Hodler’s Digest, April 6 – 12

The chief executive of non-fungible token platform Emblem Vault is warning X users to be wary of the video meeting app Zoom after a nefarious threat actor known as “ELUSIVE COMET” recently stole over $100,000 of his personal assets. 

On April 11, Emblem Vault CEO, podcaster and NFT collector Jake Gallen said on X that he had been battling a “complete computer compromise” that ended up with a loss of Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) assets from different wallets. “Unfortunately, this led to $100k+ in purchased digital assets being lost,” he said. 

Days later, Gallen said he had been working with cybersecurity firm The Security Alliance (SEAL) to track an ongoing campaign against crypto users by a threat actor identified as “ELUSIVE COMET.”

Gallen said the scam was facilitated by the video conference platform Zoom, which resulted in his crypto wallet being drained. 

“We were able to retrieve a malware file that was installed on my computer during a Zoom call with a YouTube personality of over 90k subs,” said Gallen on April 14. 

The malicious actor “employs sophisticated social engineering tactics with the goal of inducing victims into installing malware and ultimately stealing their crypto,” SEAL reported in late March.

Source: Jake Gallen

Gallen said he’d arranged an interview after being contacted by “Tactical Investing,” a verified X account claiming to be the founder and CEO of Fraction Mining. However, during the interview, Tactical Investing left their screen switched off while Gallen’s was on, enabling the installation of malware called “GOOPDATE,” which stole credentials and accessed his crypto wallets. 

Cointelegraph reached out to the X account for comment.

Zoom remote access threat

“For this scam to take place, its said that the guest of the Zoom video call allows remote access to the host of the call, which is a requestable feature that is DEFAULT ON for every Zoom account,” said Gallen.

NFT collector Leonidas confirmed the default settings and advised those in the crypto industry to prevent remote access. 

“If you don’t do this, anybody who is on a Zoom call with your employees can take over their entire computer by default,” he said. 

Source: Leonidas

SEAL security researcher Samczsun told Cointelegraph that Zoom, by default, allows meeting participants to request remote control access. “At this point in time we believe the victim still needs to be social engineered into granting access,” they said. 

Cointelegraph reached out to Zoom for comments but did not receive an immediate response. 

Related: Crypto founders report deluge of North Korean fake Zoom hacking attempts

Gallen also stated that the hackers accessed his Ledger wallet even though he had only logged in a few times over the three years and had never written the password down anywhere digitally. 

They also hacked his X account in an attempt to lure in other victims through private messages. 

SEAL reported that ELUSIVE COMET is known to operate Aureon Capital, which claims to be a legitimate venture capital firm. The threat actor is responsible for “millions of dollars in stolen funds” and poses a significant risk to users due to their “carefully engineered backstory,” the firm noted. 

Samczsun advised users who have interacted with Aureon Capital to contact SEAL’s emergency hotline on Telegram. 

Magazine: Bitcoin eyes $100K by June, Shaq to settle NFT lawsuit, and more: Hodler’s Digest