Recently, the United States and Germany have successively transferred large amounts of Bitcoin, intensifying investor panic in the volatile market. This article takes stock of the Bitcoin holdings of 5 countries and their recent trends.
United States Government: Profit exceeds $360 million to date, recent sales have limited impact
Chinese Government: Over 190,000 Bitcoin from pyramid schemes, rumors of recent shipments unverifiable
United Kingdom Government: Detected over 60,000 Bitcoin in money laundering case, no sales yet
German Government: Confiscated from pirated movie websites, already transferred one-fifth of Bitcoin holdings
El Salvador: Floating profit exceeds $50 million, no plans to sell
The crypto market is currently “on thin ice”, with the market panic index reaching a high point. Apart from Mt. Gox preparing to launch a Bitcoin compensation plan, the United States and Germany have also made large transfers consecutively. Although the current shipping volume is small and the market is fully capable of absorbing it, these sell-offs are exacerbating investor panic in the volatile market.
In fact, national-level Bitcoin whales have become an undeniable presence, and changes in their holdings have become a focus of the market’s attention. This article takes stock of the Bitcoin holdings and recent trends of 5 countries, which collectively hold over 518,000 BTC, accounting for over 2.4% of the total Bitcoin supply, with the majority coming from law enforcement actions. In terms of profits, apart from the United States selling over 190,000 Bitcoin and Germany transferring 20% of its holdings, the rest have not engaged in large-scale sales.
The United States government is the country with the largest Bitcoin holdings. According to Arkham data, as of June 27, the US government holds over 213,000 Bitcoin, worth over $12.97 billion, obtained from operations like Silk Road, Bitfinex hack, and hacker James Zhong. Co-founder Jameson Lopp of Casa revealed that since 2014, the US government has seized and sold at least 195,091 Bitcoin, earning over $366 million.
In the past week, the US government sent 3,940 Bitcoin to Coinbase Prime, originating from an Indian dark web drug trafficking case, valued at around $240 million. However, according to analysis by CryptoQuant CEO Ki Young Ju, this transaction had little impact on the market. This is because Coinbase Prime handles daily sell orders of 20,000 to 49,000 BTC during high liquidity inflow periods and 6,000 to 15,000 BTC during low inflow periods.
The Chinese government ranks second in terms of coin holdings. Bitcoin Treasuries data shows that the Chinese government holds 194,000 Bitcoin, worth $11.84 billion, seized from the PlusToken pyramid scheme in 2020. There have been rumors in the market that the Chinese government is “shipping out” Bitcoin, but due to the lack of accurate tracking addresses, the specific changes in Bitcoin holdings are still unknown.
The UK government is also one of the largest Bitcoin holders. According to Arkham data, the UK government currently holds around 61,000 Bitcoin, worth over $3.72 billion, with no transfer activities reported yet. Notably, these Bitcoin holdings of the UK government mainly stem from a Chinese money laundering case involving a staggering $43 billion, making it the largest Bitcoin laundering case in the country’s history.
The German government has also acquired large amounts of Bitcoin through law enforcement operations. As of June 27, the German government still holds around 45,000 Bitcoin, currently valued at over $2.75 billion. Previously, the German government held about 50,000 Bitcoin, mainly seized from the operator of the pirated movie website Movie2k, marking the largest Bitcoin confiscation in the history of German law enforcement. In the past week, the German government’s Bitcoin holdings have seen frequent changes, with about 8,495 Bitcoin transferred to various exchanges such as Flow Trader, Kraken, Bitstamp, and Coinbase, accounting for less than one-fifth of the current holdings.
After implementing a strategy of daily continuous purchase of one Bitcoin, El Salvador has accumulated around 5,794 Bitcoin as of June 27, valued at around $350 million, with a floating profit exceeding $50 million. Nayib Bukele, the reelected President of El Salvador, has stated that there are currently no plans to sell Bitcoin, and the country has introduced its own mempool space to track its Bitcoin treasury assets in real-time.
Furthermore, the Bitcoin holdings of Russia and North Korea are also worth noting, although the exact amounts held by these countries are uncertain, they play important roles in the crypto market. Russia currently holds about 11% of the global Bitcoin mining share, ranking third in the world; North Korea has stolen $2 billion in cryptocurrencies from 2018 to 2023, with $600 million stolen just last year.
