Good day everyone,
I hope you are all having a good day, welcome to CryptoGod-1's blog on all things crypto. In this post I will be looking at 9 nations globally holding a combined $32 Billion in Bitcoin.
Government Bitcoin Holdings
The nine nations collectively hold around $32.4 Billion in Bitcoin and roughly makes up 2.5% of the total supply. This shows how governments are looking at Bitcoin at the national level, but most has been confiscated and held by governments like the U.S., China, and the United Kingdom. The confiscations often came about from illegal activity, and the recent mass sale of 50,000 Bitcoin by the German government on the 12th of July has shown that nations have the ability to impact Bitcoin markets. There is also concern about governments colluding to crash Bitcoin markets. The move by the Germans caused the Bitcoin price to drop by almost 15%, and according to Bitcoin Treasuries,a website that tracks Bitcoin holdings, purchases, and sells across public and private companies, exchange-traded funds, smart contracts, and central governments, the total amount held by governments worldwide amounts to 517,414 Bitcoin. This is valued at $32.4 Billion going on current price pf $64,527 at the time of writing.
Bitcoin treasuries estimates these figures from the Securities and Exchange Commission filings, quarterly reports, and press releases. While they own 2.5% of the global Bitcoin supply, which is capped at 21 million, these governments are not heavily invested in crypto. The nine governments holding the most Bitcoin, and how they plan to use it, are shown below:
United States
Bitcoin holdings: 213,246 BTC
Estimated value: $13.4 billion
Source: Bitcoin Treasuries
The United States has the largest amount of Bitcoin holdings per government, with the majority of its seized during the raid on the dark web marketplace Silk Road. The authorities closed the site in 2013 and it was one of the earliest adopters of Bitcoin and facilitated peer-to-peer trading of narcotics and other illegal items.
China
Bitcoin holdings: 190,000 BTC
Estimated value: $11.9 billion
Source: Bitcoin Treasuries
China have the majority of their holdings thanks to the confiscation from the Plus Token scam back in 2019. They have the second largest amount per government, and the Plus Token Ponzi scheme was founded back in April 2018. This mainly targeted Chinese and South Korean investors involved in cryptocurrency mining. Law enforcement seized over 190,000 Bitcoin.
United Kingdom
Bitcoin holdings: 61,000 BTC
Estimated value: $3.8 billion
Back in 2021 the Metropolitan Police seized 61,000 Bitcoin from two Chinese nationals, Jian Wen and Zhimin Qian. Back then it was estimated to be worth around £1.4 billion, and the holdings came from a £5 billion investment fraud committed by Qian in China from 2014 to 2017. The fraud saw 128,000 victims lose their investment, and Wen, an employee of Qian, was accused of laundering the proceeds.
Ukraine
Bitcoin holdings: 46,351 BTC
Estimated value: $2.9 billion
The majority of Ukraines holdings came about when police seized or got donations from individuals supporting the country’s war efforts. Around $1.5 million worth of Bitcoin was confiscated from Yury Shchigol, the former head of Ukraine’s State Special Communications Service in 2023. Since 2022, Ukraine has received more than $225 million in Bitcoin donations.
El Salvador
Bitcoin holdings: 5,800 BTC
Estimated value: $364.2 million
Source: Bitcoin Treasuries
El Salvador, the famed Central American nation, became the first nation-state to adopt Bitcoin as an official currency in 2021. Nayib Bukele, an advocate for Bitcoin and the nations president, has overseen the nation accumulate over 5,800 Bitcoin. They have made use of their volcano energy for mining while also averaging a purchase of one Bitcoin per day.
Bhutan
Bitcoin holdings: 621 BTC
Estimated value: $39 million
The kingdom in South Asia has been actively mining Bitcoin for several years. Between 2021 and 2023, the kingdom reportedly invested $540 million in its Bitcoin mining operations and this is equivalent to 21% of Bhutan’s GDP at the time. This was reportedly financed through loans from the Royal Monetary Authority to the state-run Druk Holding & Investments.
Venezuela
Bitcoin holdings: 240 BTC
Estimated value: $15.1 million
The South American nation began accepting Bitcoin in exchange for its failed cryptocurrency, the Petro, and has been increasing its holdings since. Back in 2018 they released their own digital currency which was reported to be backed by the nations oil reserves. It was intended to support the bolívar currency but the government struggled to achieve its plans of integrating the cryptocurrency with public services like wages or payment for issuing a new passport.
Finland
Bitcoin holdings: 90 BTC
Estimated value: $5.7 million
Source: Bitcoin Treasuries
The Scandanavian nation once had around 1,980 Bitcoin, which had been seized by Finnish Customs during criminal investigations. The majority of this came from a major drug bust in 2016 where 1,666 Bitcoin were confiscated. The nation has since sold much of its Bitcoin holding through the Finland-based crypto firms Coinmotion and Tesseract. The nation also reportedly donated around $50 million from the sales to Ukraine in their war effort against Russia.
Georgia
Bitcoin holdings: 66 BTC
Estimated value: $4.1 million
The small European nation likely obtained the asset through law enforcement seizures, similar to how other countries have acquired their Bitcoin holdings, but it remains unclear exactly how they came about.
Some fear a potential government collusion to crash the Bitcoin market by mass selling their Bitcoin holdings. However, heading into 2024, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission was repeatedly taken to court before it approved Bitcoin and Ethereum exchange-traded funds. This has shown a softened stance towards cryptocurrency compared to the past.
Concerns remain over Bitcoin's suspected involvement in money laundering, sanction evasion, and billion-dollar heists, and this means it remains unappealing to some world governments. As shown by Germany's sell off, the $32 billion worth of Bitcoin is held by powerful governments and they may view it as crime-related money to be liquidated rather than an asset to be strategically managed.
When Germany began to sell their holdings, the price of Bitcoin fell as low as $53,000 during a 15% slump, but has shown resilience since and rebounded to above the $64,000 mark.
Have a great day.
Peace. CryptoGod-1.
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