How many Bitcoin on the wallets controlled by the authorities of different countries. How states have become some of the world's largest holders of cryptocurrency
As a result of seizing assets from criminals, some of the largest holders of the major cryptocurrency have become states. While investors buy bitcoin on the open market. And while investing real money, states are more likely to obtain bitcoins by confiscating "digital gold."
Of all the bitcoin-holding countries, only El Salvador is actively buying bitcoin (as of 2021). And is also mining the cryptocurrency as part of the government's Volcano Energy initiative, which uses geothermal sources as energy.
According to El Salvador's President Naibu Bukele, who published the official state bitcoin address, there are more than 5.8 thousand BTC in the account of the country that has accepted BTC as a means of payment.
Neither the US, China, the UK nor Germany has ever officially bought cryptocurrency. However, thanks to seizures from criminals, major governments have been able to amass crypto assets worth billions of dollars.
Cryptocurrency confiscation market
The total crypto reserves of the states are estimated at about 560.7 thousand BTC (more than $32.2 billion), according to the Bitcointreasuries service, which tracks public information and official statements of regulatory bodies.
The list of Bitcointreasuries includes Ukraine and China - these countries accounted for more than 236 thousand BTC ($13.5 billion). Ukraine is followed by 46,351 thousand BTC. But obviously these are the assets of government officials as individuals, not the state itself. At least this is the number of bitcoins - 46 thousand 351 - previously indicated in the declarations of Ukrainian civil servants.
China is listed second in the list of Bitcointreasuries, its reserves are estimated at 190 thousand BTC. In 2020, the Chinese authorities seized 195 thousand BTC and a number of other cryptocurrencies from the financial pyramid PlusToken in 2020. At the same time, it was officially announced that the seized assets would be sold. And the proceeds would be transferred to the state treasury, The Block reported. There were no other statements, nor was there any blockchain data confirming any transactions of these coins
The US is considered the largest bitcoin holder among all countries. The accounts controlled by the country's authorities hold 213.2k BTC, as well as 50.5k ETH, almost $122m in the USDT stablecoin, etc., according to the Arkham analytics platform.
The third place in the ranking of Bitcointreasuries was taken by the UK. The size of its reserves is estimated at 61 thousand BTC. This is how many bitcoins were seized by the authorities in January 2024 .
In the list of the largest bitcoin-holding countries there is also Germany. In early 2024, authorities confiscated 50 thousand coins related to the activities of a pirate website that violated the Copyright Act in 2013.
In June 2024, according to Arkham, the German government began moving funds around. Through several outbound transactions to Bitstamp, Coinbase and Kraken, 40.3k BTC remained at the German government's investigated addresses. The last known series of transfers occurred on July 4, 2024 and amounted to 3k BTC.
In addition to the countries described above, Bitcointreasuries service noted small reserves of the first cryptocurrency in Bhutan (621 BTC), Venezuela (240 BTC), Finland (90 BTC) and Georgia (66 BTC).
Thus, the aggregate balance of confiscated bitcoin in "government accounts" is much larger than that of MicroStrategy, which publicly invested $7.6 billion in BTC by buying about 215,000 BTC.
Who buys confiscated Bitcoin from different countries and at what prices
More often than not, governments report sales ex post facto, and it is not known exactly who is buying confiscated bitcoins and when. Like Chinese authorities, the U.S. has not disclosed bitcoin buyers. Only general information. Although U.S. authorities do release more information about the progress of the sales.
Since 2014, the sale of seized bitcoins was handled by the U.S. Marshals Service through closed auctions. However, in late June, it was revealed that the USMS, part of the Department of Justice responsible for asset forfeiture, chose Coinbase Prime to store and trade the seized cryptocurrency.
Coinbase Prime is a brokerage platform that allows you to store, buy, sell and invest in cryptocurrencies. It is also the primary partner for the vast majority of spot crypto-ETFs.
According to Coinbase's press release, the Prime service will provide cryptocurrency storage and trading services to the USMS. No other details have been released in this regard. $BTC
