US Government Remains a Top Bitcoin Holder With Seized Stash Valued at $5.6 Billion

2 years ago

As of March 25, 2023, the U.S. authorities held 205,515 bitcoins worthy $5.6 billion, which is astir 1.06% of the circulating supply, according to existent statistics. The cache of bitcoins is simply a effect of 3 forfeitures that began successful 2020. Glassnode’s on-chain information reveals that connected March 9, astir 9,860 bitcoins worthy astir $269 cardinal were sent to a Coinbase address.

Uncle Sam’s Crypto Stash: How the U.S. Government Became a Top Bitcoin Holder

The U.S. authorities presently holds 205,515 bitcoins valued astatine $5.66 cardinal based connected today’s speech rates. The bitcoins were confiscated successful 3 cases, including the Silk Road bitcoin seizure successful November 2020, the 2022 Bitfinex hack confiscation, and the seizure of bitcoins from James Zhong past year. Of the total, 69,369 BTC was seized from “Individual X,” 94,643 BTC was taken from Ilya Lichtenstein and his woman Heather Morgan, and 51,326 BTC was seized from Zhong successful November 2022.

According to a report from Glassnode connected March 9, 2023, immoderate of these bitcoins person moved, reducing the full from 215,338 to 205,515 BTC. “Approximately [40,000 bitcoins] from wallets associated with U.S. Government instrumentality enforcement seizures are connected the move,” Glassnode reported. “The bulk of these look to beryllium interior transfers (so far). However, astir 9,861 [bitcoin] seized from the Silk Road hacker person been sent to our Coinbase cluster.”

Screenshot from Glassnode connected March 9, 2023.

The existent estimation of 205,515 bitcoins (BTC) comes from a Dune Analytics set of metrics created by 21Shares, an exchange-traded merchandise provider. The information shows the U.S. government’s addresses and transaction history. Of the existent seized cache of BTC, 44% came from the Bitfinex forfeiture, 32.2% from “Individual X,” and 23.8% from the Zhong seizure. Additionally, the U.S. authorities whitethorn person much bitcoins than what is tallied up successful 21Shares’ information set. The summary notes that the 205,515 BTC is “a lower-bound estimation” based solely connected “publicly disposable information.”

The U.S. government’s seized 205,515 bitcoins represent a sizeable stash compared to that of different ample holders. Although smaller than Grayscale’s cache of 643,572 BTC, it surpasses Microstrategy’s stash of 132,500 BTC. Furthermore, compared to the whales successful the bitcoin-rich list of addresses, it would beryllium the 2nd largest (if consolidated), falling down Binance’s bitcoin acold wallet, which holds 248,597 BTC astatine the clip of writing.

The national government’s bitcoin stash is besides larger than the astir 140,000 BTC successful the Mt Gox cache. This isn’t the archetypal clip the U.S. authorities has been a apical holder; the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) was the second-largest BTC holder aft seizing the archetypal Silk Road marketplace. However, the government’s stash astatine that clip was depleted aft the U.S. Marshals held bitcoin auctions to merchantability the crypto assets successful 2014.

What bash you deliberation astir the U.S. government’s existent bitcoin stash? Share your thoughts successful the comments conception below.

Jamie Redman

Jamie Redman is the News Lead astatine Bitcoin.com News and a fiscal tech writer surviving successful Florida. Redman has been an progressive subordinate of the cryptocurrency assemblage since 2011. He has a passionateness for Bitcoin, open-source code, and decentralized applications. Since September 2015, Redman has written much than 6,000 articles for Bitcoin.com News astir the disruptive protocols emerging today.

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