You'll Never Guess Who Owns Over 1% of the Bitcoin Supply

…or at least you’ll wish you never guessed.

Hold onto your seats, fellow Bitcoin enthusiasts, because there’s some breaking news that’ll make your jaw drop! We recently found out that one of the whales holding over 1% of the BTC supply is none other than a powerful entity known for holding massive amounts of assets. Can you guess who it is?

You might have assumed it was MicroStrategy, given their flamboyant spending style of over $4 billion to acquire 140,000 units of BTC. But nope, this entity’s holding is even more significant than that! It’s someone who didn’t even buy these bitcoins – they seized them, to be precise. We’re talking about the U.S. government, folks!

Yes, you heard that right. The U.S. Department of Justice seized $3.6 billion worth of Bitcoin in connection to the 2016 Bitfinex hack in 2022. But wait, there’s more! When the notorious Silk Road was taken down, the government seized 70,000 BTC from Ross Ulbricht.. The total amount of BTC held by the U.S. government comes up to be worth roughly $6 billion today.

This significant holding places the U.S. government ahead of well-known whales like MicroStrategy, whose holdings pale in comparison. It’s even more intriguing to note that the largest BTC holder is the elusive Satoshi Nakamoto, who created the blockchain network and holds 1 million BTC. Following in second place is the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust with 650,000 BTC.

While it might seem ironic that the U.S. government, often seen as averse to BTC and cryptocurrency in general, holds such a massive amount of the flagship digital asset, it’s also a testament to the growing recognition that Bitcoin is legitimate to most governments when it’s convenient.

The U.S. government’s plan for their newly “acquired” BTC

But the real question on everyone’s mind is – what the hell is the US government doing with all that crypto dough? Well, let’s take a closer look and widly speculate, shall we?

First off, it’s important to note that the US government’s foray into crypto isn’t entirely new. The Silk Road bust alone netted them over $200 million in bitcoin sales. Not too shabby for a digital currency that many still dismiss as a passing fad.

So what’s next? Will the government continue its aggressive sell-off strategy? Or will it change tactics and start holding onto its precious crypto coins?

But seriously, selling off bitcoin might not be the wisest long-term strategy. Just look at how much the price of bitcoin has risen since the 2014 sale. If the government had held onto those 29,657 bitcoin instead of selling them for a measly $18 million, they would be worth over $1 billion today.

Why we hope they don’t sell — at least not all at once

As much as we typically avoid talking about price when it comes to crypto, we can’t help but be hopeful that the US government sees the potential of holding onto some of these coins for at least a few years.

First off, if they do decide to sell all or most of their coins at once, it could have a huge impact on the market. An infusion of that size into an already volatile space could have devastating consequences.

Second, if they do decide to hold onto some of the coins, we could be looking at a potential uptick in institutional adoption. That’s because while most governments are still wary of crypto in general, the fact that the US government itself is holding onto bitcoin may encourage other entities to invest as well.

Whatever happens, it’s sure to be an interesting ride. We hope the US government makes wise decisions with their crypto trove and doesn’t destabilize the market or scare away investors. After all, we’re all in this together! 

Who knows, maybe the president will come out in a HODL shirt, at the next budget meeting?