The U.S. Government Has Over $4.4B in Bitcoin It Could Dump Anytime

Key Takeaways

The DOJ introduced at present that it seized 50,676.17 BTC from a Silk Street exploiter in November 2021.
The haul is likely one of the largest in DOJ historical past.
The U.S. authorities is at present one of many largest Bitcoin whales, and owns over 214,046 BTC at minimal.

Over the previous few years, the US authorities has change into one of many largest Bitcoin whales just by seizing illegally obtained funds. Finally, it should in all probability search to liquidate these funds via non-public auctions.

Over 50,000 BTC Seized

America authorities owns an unlimited quantity of Bitcoin.

In the present day, the Division of Justice (DOJ) announced that it seized somewhat over 50,676.17 BTC (price roughly $1 billion at at present’s costs) in November 2021 from a Bitcoin dealer named James Zhong. Zhong obtained the sum by defrauding darknet market Silk Street by exploiting the platform’s withdrawal mechanism in September 2012; he pleaded responsible to at least one depend of wire fraud final week, on November 4, 2022.

The DOJ publicized the confiscation as a $3.36 billion haul, which, whereas right on the time of the enforcement motion, fails to keep in mind that Bitcoin is now down 69% from its all-time excessive. Nonetheless, the seizure is notable—it’s the third largest in cryptocurrency historical past by Crypto Briefing’s depend—particularly contemplating the quantity of Bitcoin the U.S. authorities already has underneath its management.

Over $4.43 Billion in Bitcoin

Along with the 50,676 BTC seized from Zhong, the U.S. authorities has already acquired on the very least 163,370 BTC over the past two years, for a grand complete of 214,046 BTC, or about $4.43 billion, minimal.

In November 2020, the DOJ captured 69,370 BTC (price over $1.4 billion at present) from one other Silk Street consumer, publicized as “Particular person X” by the division. On the time, this was the community’s fourth-largest Bitcoin deal with; the seizure formally made the U.S. authorities one of many greatest Bitcoin whales on the earth.

The company additionally seized over 94,000 BTC from Heather “Razzlekhan” Morgan and Ilya Lichtenstein, claiming the couple was conspiring to launder proceeds from the crypto alternate Bitfinex’s notorious hack in 2016. The sum, price $3.6 billion on the time, is now price over $1.9 billion.

Proudly owning 214,046 BTC makes the U.S. authorities a tremendously massive Bitcoin whale. In line with BitInfoCharts, just one BTC pockets—labeled as Binance’s chilly storage pockets—comprises a bigger sum, 252,597 BTC, and these funds most actually belong to Binance prospects, not the alternate itself.

Trying to find the most important BTC wallets doesn’t give the complete image, nonetheless, as whales are more likely to divide their holdings between numerous wallets. For instance, Satoshi Nakamoto, the nameless creator of Bitcoin, owns greater than 1.1 million BTC, however the quantity is cut up between 22,000 completely different wallets.

Is the U.S. authorities the most important Bitcoin whale moreover Satoshi? It’s arduous to say, but it surely actually holds greater than Bitcoin’s greatest public advocate, Michael Saylor. Via his software program firm, Microstrategy, Saylor was in a position to accumulate over 130,000 BTC over the course of the previous two years.

Concern for Bitcoin Holders?

Sometimes, the U.S. authorities liquidates its Bitcoin holdings via the U.S. Marshalls Service via public auctions. For instance, Enterprise Capitalist Tim Draper famously purchased 30,000 BTC from the federal government in 2014 for about $18.5 million—or roughly $616 per coin. Almost certainly, the BTC seized by the DOJ will probably be equally supplied to the general public.

In recent times, the DOJ has tried to time its auctions in keeping with market gyrations to promote its holdings for the very best value attainable. In November 2021, it auctioned off $56 million price of cryptocurrencies seized from a BitConnect promoter, efficiently liquidating the holdings on the peak of the bull market. Whether or not the company could have the endurance to attend for Bitcoin to rise once more earlier than promoting its holdings is but to be seen. To date, it has restrained itself from liquidating the proceeds from the Particular person X and Razzlekhan confiscations.

Disclosure: On the time of writing, the creator of this piece owned BTC, ETH, and several other different digital property.

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