- Auto manufacturer Tesla bought Bitcoin last year.
- The US authorities confiscated more than $1 billion worth of crypto in 2021.
The US government has been auctioning off Bitcoin (BTC) and other cryptocurrencies as a side business for many years. But, according to new statistics, the government still has $4.08 billion worth of Bitcoin, despite selling off some of the Bitcoin it got via seizures, according to co-founders Negentropic of on-chain analytics platform Glassnode.
According to the latest data, the US government’s holdings are more than twice as significant as Ukraine and Tesla. Auto manufacturer Tesla bought Bitcoin last year and included it in its financial statements, but it stopped accepting Bitcoin as payment soon after.
$8.6 Billion Worth BTC Confiscated
Regarding Bitcoin holdings, the US government is behind only the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust ($27.93 billion) and MicroStrategy ($5.43 billion) in the race for the top spot. The US authorities confiscated more than $1 billion worth of cryptocurrencies in 2021, an eightfold increase from the previous year.
In December, a total of 185,000 Bitcoins worth an estimated $8.6 billion were confiscated and auctioned off by the US Marshals Service, as per the department in charge of selling off the government’s cryptocurrency holdings. Analysts anticipate that as long as cybercrime continues to increase at its current pace, the US government’s crypto purse will continue to expand. The Bitcoin (BTC) price fell to a monthly low of $38,725 on April 18, owing to a collapse in the crypto market. Whales and large institutional investors have taken advantage of the chance to ‘buy the dip.’
The third-largest Bitcoin whale purchased 2,822 BTC worth approximately $117 million during the previous seven days. After two days of price stability, Bitcoin whales have begun buying BTC at $40k levels. In addition, since April, the third-largest Bitcoin whale has been steadily building up its holdings.