Ranking of Bitcoin holdings by country: The United States tops the list with 210,000 coins! China ranked second, and the third place was unexpected...

The BitcoinTreasuries website , built and maintained by Coinkite, a Bitcoin security hardware manufacturer, specializes in tracking the number of Bitcoins held by major entities, summarizing available data from SEC filings, quarterly reports, press releases, etc. According to the number of Bitcoins held by various governments, According to the currency rankings, the United States is currently the government with the largest currency holdings.

The amount of Bitcoin held by various governments is as follows:

1. United States: holds 213,246 Bitcoins, currently worth $13.58 billion
2. China: holds 190,000 Bitcoins, currently worth $12.1 billion
3. UK: holds 61,000 Bitcoins, currently worth $3.8 billion
4. Germany: Holds 50,000 Bitcoins, currently worth $3.18 billion
5. Ukraine: holds 46,351 Bitcoins, currently worth $2.95 billion
6. El Salvador: holds 5,702 Bitcoins, currently worth $363 million
7. Bhutan: holds 621 Bitcoins, currently worth $39.55 million
8. Venezuela: holds 240 Bitcoins, currently worth $15.29 million
9. Finland: holds 90 Bitcoins, currently worth $5.73 million
10. Georgia: Holds 66 Bitcoins, currently worth $4.2 million

Fight Crime to Get Bitcoin

None of the governments with the largest Bitcoin holdings have ever purchased Bitcoin; their holdings were confiscated from criminals.

The U.S. government, which holds the largest amount of currency, seized more than 200,000 Bitcoins from cybercriminals and Dark Web markets in three different law enforcement operations from November 2020 to 2022. Currently, these Bitcoins Stored primarily in encrypted, password-protected, offline cold wallets controlled by the U.S. Department of Justice, IRS, or other agencies.

The main sources of Bitcoin seized by the U.S. government are as follows:

1. In November 2020, 69,369 BTC were confiscated from Silk Road , the largest black market on the Dark Web.
2. January 2022, Confiscated from Bitfinex Hack – 94,643 BTC
3. In March 2022, 51,326 BTC were confiscated from Silk Road hacker James Zhong, of which 41,500 BTC are still held by the US government

How the U.S. government handles these Bitcoins has long been a topic of concern in the market, because any sell-off may affect the price of the currency. In February last year, the U.S. government sold 9,861 Bitcoins once owned by Silk Road on Coinbase. In February this year In March, the U.S. government transferred 15,085 BTC confiscated in the Bitfinex hacking case, possibly in preparation for the auction.

Extended reading: The U.S. government is expected to auction $1 billion in Bitcoin, will it affect the market? How many BTC were confiscated in total?

The Chinese government, which ranks second in currency holdings, confiscated 190,000 Bitcoins in the PlusToken pyramid scheme case of the "worst fund market" in 2020.

According to the criminal ruling , the stolen money seized by the Chinese public security organs at that time included:

• 194,775 Bitcoins (BTC)
• 833,083 Ethereum coins (ETH)
• 1.4 million Litecoin (LTC)
• 27.6 million EOS
• 74,167 DASH
• 6 billion Dogecoins (DOGE)
• 80,000 Bitcoin Cash (BCH)
• 213,724 USDT.

Extended reading: 50 billion capital stock | PlusToken first-instance verdict: 16 defendants were sentenced to 2 to 11 years in prison, and all illegal gains were "turned over" to the Chinese state treasury

The British government, which ranks third in currency holdings, confiscated 61,000 Bitcoins in a Bitcoin money laundering case.

Jian Wen is a former British Chinese restaurant employee. He was accused by the British authorities of assisting Zhimin Qian, a Chinese fugitive who came to the UK under a false identity, to launder money. As a result, 61,000 Bitcoins were confiscated. Between 2014 and 2017, Zhimin Qian planned An investment scam with a scale of US$6.3 billion defrauded 130,000 Chinese investors.

Although the British government has confiscated these 61,000 Bitcoins, a Chinese scholar recently pointed out that the 130,000 Chinese victims are entitled to compensation and suggested that this case needs to be resolved through diplomatic coordination, judicial and police cooperation between China and the UK. Achieve a win-win situation under the framework of international law.

Extended reading: Chinese Money Laundering Case" Britain wants to confiscate "61,000 Bitcoins" of stolen money, China protests: China has the right to pursue it and will not sit idly by

Micro-strategy holds more coins than the country

It is worth noting that MicroStrategy, a listed company in the United States that dominates Bitcoin holdings, currently holds 214,278 Bitcoins, with a current value of US$13.55 billion, which is more than any country’s currency holdings. In comparison, Tesla, which ranks second among listed companies in currency holdings, only holds 17,631 Bitcoins, with a current value of US$1.11 billion.