US Government Holds Over $8 Billion Worth of Bitcoin

Due to a healthy price surge, the U.S. federal government now holds at least $8.3 billion worth of Bitcoin, a number that was at $5 billion less than three months ago.

Between November 2020 and 2022, the U.S. authorities disclosed the confiscation of 207,189 Bitcoins in three separate actions related to the Silk Road dark web marketplace, hacker Jimmy Zhong, and the Bitfinex

cryptocurrency

exchange. Less than 5% of the confiscated Bitcoins have been sold. Last February, the government sold 9,861 BTC previously belonging to Silk Road on Coinbase. These transactions generated revenue of $215 million for the government at an average price of $21,800 per Bitcoin, approximately half of the current price.

At that time, U.S. prosecutors stated their intention to sell the remaining Silk Road Bitcoins—41,491 BTC—in four batches over the following calendar year. This cache, valued at $1 billion back then, is now worth $1.8 billion. This deadline is set to expire in two months.