The Galaxy Brains Of The Trump White House Want To Use Tariffs To Buy Bitcoin

[Celerity]

Critics on the right and left say the bitcoin reserve is a pointless industry handout — and using tariff revenue is even dumber.

https://theintercept.com/2025/04/19/trump-tariffs-crypto-bitcoin-reserve/


An advertisement featuring Trump with bitcoin in Hong Kong on April 6, 2025. Photo: May James/SOPA Images/LightRocket/Getty Images

If Donald Trump’s sweeping global tariffs send household good prices soaring and drive the economy into recession, at least one industry could profit. The Trump administration is considering using tariff revenues to buy Bitcoin for a “Strategic Bitcoin Reserve,” a top administration crypto official said in an interview last week. The White House’s proposal is driving interest from crypto industry figures who have made building the reserve one of their top priorities.

It is uniting critics on the right and left, however, who have cast the reserve as a pointless industry giveaway that will come at the expense of ordinary taxpayers. Using tariff money would add insult to injury, they say. “There is nothing here but a conjunction of bad ideas,” said George Selgin, an economist and professor emeritus at the University of Georgia. “The tariffs are a bad idea, the Bitcoin Strategic Reserve is a bad idea, and using the tariff revenue for the Bitcoin Strategic Reserve is a bad idea.”

Reaping Revenue?

Ever since Trump proposed across-the-board tariffs on the campaign trail last year, he has touted the idea as a way to both build domestic industry and raise revenue. Trump has suggested that tariff revenue could replace the nearly $5 trillion the government hauls in income tax revenue per year, while a top trade official in his administration estimated they could raise $6 to $7 trillion over a decade.

Both numbers are fantasies, according to economists of all political stripes. The nonpartisan Tax Policy Center said the massive tariffs — if they all go into effect as initially proposed on “Liberation Day” — could raise about $3.3 trillion over that period, assuming they don’t send the economy into a tailspin. The relatively meager scale of the tariffs’ revenues has not stopped the Trump administration from cooking up ideas for how to spend them on everything from tax cuts for the rich to deficit reduction.

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[Drum]

1. The Rise of The Broligarchy

or Bad Idea Theater, or Goldfinger He’s Not.

[Diraven]

2. They sure are determined

To find some way to dump all their crypto on the government, or at least have us prop up the price for them. Actual Americans would get no benefit from this.

[Buns_of_Fire]

3. Krasnov's looking for another casino to bankrupt. nt

[CitizenZero]

4. Kleptocracy

It is clear that they are just trying to strip the country for parts. They want to dominate everything and steal as much money as they can get. It is a power trip and a money making scheme. They are quite willing to throw the poor, the elderly, and the disabled out into the street to get more money. This cryptocurrency thing is just a massive scam. They're ripping everyone off. Trump is willing to destroy America and the economy just so long as he and his cronies get rich and richer. I hope that one day he and his criminal gang are brought to justice.

[JCMach1]

5. Money would directly benefit his sons new business venture

https://www.axios.com/2025/03/31/trump-bitcoin-mining-venture

[tanyev]

6. OK, time for me to set up a Strategic Canned Goods Reserve.