The US government just transferred 29,800 BTC, worth $2 billion, and BTC plummeted. This is exactly the same as the scene of the German government selling BTC in early July. Today, let’s take a look at which governments hold the most BTC and how they acquired these assets.
1. United States
According to Arkham data, the United States owns more than 183,000 BTC, and also holds 750 Wrapped BTC, 50,000 ETH, 40,000 BNB, 10,000,000 USDC and more than 121,000,000 USDT, with a total value of US$12.7 billion.
How it was acquired: The U.S. government has never been recorded purchasing any BTC, and all assets were confiscated from illegal activities.
Some of the more famous ones:
1. A hacker named "Individual X" successfully hacked into the notorious Silk Road market between 2012 and 2013, stealing more than 69,000 BTC. After being discovered, he neither spent nor returned the money, and was stubborn. However, he was arrested in February 2015 and signed a forfeiture agreement to hand over all the stolen BTC.
2. James Zhong, who stole more than 51,000 BTC by exploiting a loophole in Silk Road. He lived a luxurious life under an assumed name until he was arrested. Ironically, he was discovered because he called 911 one day to report that someone had stolen hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of cryptocurrency from his home. After his arrest in November 2011, he pleaded guilty to wire fraud charges, surrendered his BTC, and was sentenced to one year and one day in prison.
3. 94,000 BTC were seized from Ilya Lichtenstein and Heather Morgan, who were involved in BTC money laundering in the Bitfinex hack in 2016. You can watch Morgan’s rap videos on TikTok when you are free. She has been released on bail and her spiritual world has reached a new level.
Typically, the U.S. government stores these confiscated assets in cold wallets during investigations and then converts them into fiat currency through exchanges or OTC auctions. From 2014 to 2023, the United States sold more than $360 million in BTC through 11 different auctions, and the funds were usually used for law enforcement budgets or other public services.
2. China
At one point, the Chinese government held more than 190,000 BTC, as well as a large number of mining machines.
How to obtain: I personally believe that the number of BTC held must be much larger than the above number. These 190,000 BTC are the number confiscated from a PlusToken scam alone. PlusToken was established in 2018 and promised high returns on investment, which led to a large number of investors being deceived. In 2020, China arrested more than 100 participants in PlusToken, including 82 core team members and 27 masterminds.
The confiscated crypto assets include more than 190,000 BTC, 830,000 ETH, and 487,000,000 XRP, etc. Although it is unclear whether these crypto assets are still held, most of them should have been exchanged.
3. United Kingdom
UK Government Holds Over 61,000 BTC
How to obtain: This method is also quite magical. These 60,000 BTC came from an illegal fund-raising case that has been going on for 7 years in China. The story of this Chinese delivery worker named Jian Wen who became rich overnight and her high-profile attempt to buy a £30 million mansion with BTC, but unable to explain the source of her wealth, exposed the case. During the interrogation, she said that she was just helping people launder money, washing a large amount of BTC into assets such as houses, cash and jewelry, but she was still found guilty in March 2024 and sentenced to six years and eight months in prison in May.
4. Ukraine
The Ukrainian government is known for officials holding more than 46,000 BTC. A report in April 2021 showed that 652 officials declared BTC ownership, with an average of 71 BTC per person. One official reported holding 18,000 BTC, worth more than $1.1 billion.
In addition, the conflict between Russia and Ukraine has led to more than $225 million in cryptocurrencies donated by global supporters for military and humanitarian aid. These donations include $83 million in USDT, $79 million in ETH, and $41 million in BTC. . It can be seen that although some cryptocurrencies may be obtained through theft or money laundering, they can also be used for humanitarian aid at critical moments. Therefore, the assets themselves are not guilty, but those who use these assets to commit crimes are guilty.
Well, that’s all for today’s gossip. Keep working diligently and help BTC break 80,000!
