U.S. Government Ranks Among Top Bitcoin Holders with Over $5 Billion in BTC

Adekunle Joshua

The U.S. government holds over 200,000 BTC worth more than $5 billion

According to data analysis by crypto firm 21.co, the U.S. government's estimated BTC holdings stand at 194,188 BTC, valued at $5.3 billion.

The analysis tracked Bitcoin movements associated with three significant seizures, including the Silk Road seizure in 2020, the Bitfinex Hack seizure in 2022, and the James Zhong seizure in the same year

These Bitcoin assets are primarily stored offline in hardware wallets under the Justice Department and the Internal Revenue Service. The U.S. government took possession after court judgments

Historically, some seized Bitcoin was auctioned off. A famous example was when Tim Draper bought 30,000 BTC from government auctions in 2014

In recent times, the U.S. government has used crypto exchanges for selling seized Bitcoin through public auctions. One such sale took place earlier this year on Coinbase

The U.S. government's evolving approach to handling seized Bitcoin assets sheds light on the ever-changing landscape of digital assets.