By
Mayowa Adebajo
May 17th, 2024
Although the US government holds a significant amount of Bitcoin, it has periodically sold portions of its crypto holdings.
According to data from the blockchain intelligence firm Arkham, the US government’s Bitcoin (BTC) holdings have reached a total of 216.788, worth approximately $13.83 billion. The company, focused on deanonymizing entities within the crypto space, said the increase stems from recent developments, particularly the seizure of assets from Banmeet Singh, an Indian national involved in illegal activities on the dark web.
Singh, who pleaded guilty to drug distribution charges in January this year, forfeited approximately $150 million in proceeds from his illicit operations. Additionally, authorities confiscated 3940 BTC belonging to the offender. The assets are currently valued at around $250 million.
US Bitcoin Seizures
The recent seizure significantly contributed to the government’s Bitcoin reserves, which now total $13.8 billion. Arkham said a substantial portion of these assets may have been acquired through criminal seizures.
Before the recent addition, the US government’s Bitcoin holdings stood at approximately $8 billion. As of October 2023, the country held around $5.3 billion worth of Bitcoin.
According to separate data from blockchain analytics firm Dune, the government has confiscated around 200,000 tokens from cybercriminals since 2020.
The country’s top three Bitcoin seizures from November 2020 until now include the infamous Silk Road seizures totaling 69,369 BTC, the January 2022 Bitfinex Hack Seizure of 94,643 BTC, and the March 2022 James Zhong Seizure of 51,326 BTC.
US Leads in Largest Bitcoin Holdings
Due to its extensive Bitcoin portfolio, the United States recently emerged as one of the largest crypto holders on a regional scale. Arkham data showed that the US held around 212,847 Bitcoins as of April 2024, topping countries like the UK and Germany.
Our team created a dashboard featuring the Governments with the largest crypto holdings.
For each country, you can see their current BTC balance, balance history in USD, and a real-time feed of their most recent transactions.
Some of the largest countries on Arkham are the US,… pic.twitter.com/jKRmKJCVfn
— Arkham (@ArkhamIntel) April 12, 2024
In addition to Bitcoin, the authorities also owned a significant portion of Ethereum (ETH) and other cryptocurrencies, such as USDT and USDC, with a total valuation of $200 million.
The UK and Germany took second and third place, respectively. Arkham said the British government held around 61,245 BTC, while the German government owned 49,858 BTC.
US Government Sells Bitcoin Holdings
Although the US government holds a significant amount of Bitcoin, it has periodically sold portions of its crypto holdings, especially BTC.
For instance, in March 2023, the US sold approximately 10,000 Bitcoins linked to the Silk Road case. In January this year, the government disclosed its intent to sell another portion of Bitcoin worth around $130 million.
Additionally, data from researcher Jameson Lopp revealed that the US Marshals had facilitated the sale of 195,000 BTC on behalf of the government. The total BTC seized and sold amounts to 195,091.75, yielding a total sales gain of $366 million.
Last month, the US government transferred another portion of the Silk Road seizure, valued at approximately $200 million at the time, to Coinbase. The exchange received around 30,175 Bitcoins from a wallet associated with the US government.