{"id":9661,"date":"2024-01-04T16:57:13","date_gmt":"2024-01-04T14:57:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/us-governments-bitcoin-holdings-surpass-8-billion\/"},"modified":"2024-01-04T16:57:13","modified_gmt":"2024-01-04T14:57:13","slug":"us-governments-bitcoin-holdings-surpass-8-billion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/us-governments-bitcoin-holdings-surpass-8-billion\/","title":{"rendered":"US Government&#8217;s Bitcoin Holdings Surpass $8 Billion"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The US government holds approximately 200,000 BTC, valued at $8.4 billion, according to <a href=\"https:\/\/blockworks.co\/news\/us-government-bitcoin-holdings-billions\">Blockworks<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p>Less than three months ago, this amount was $5 billion, but since then, the price of Bitcoin has significantly increased.<\/p>\n<p>The 207,189 BTC, confiscated between 2020 and 2022, are linked to the darknet marketplace Silk Road, hacker James Zhong, and Bitfinex hackers. Less than 5% (9,861 BTC) of these funds were sold in March last year.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/forklog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/USgov.webp\" alt=\"USgov\" class=\"wp-image-223296\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Data: Blockworks.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\"><p>\n<cite>\u201cThe transactions brought in $215 million at an average price of $21,800 per Bitcoin, which is half the current value,\u201d noted Blockworks experts.<\/cite><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Court documents indicate an intention to sell the remaining coins confiscated from James Zhong in November 2021. A year later, he admitted to illegally obtaining them on the Silk Road darknet marketplace.<\/p>\n<p>According to the US Department of Justice, in September 2012, Zhong executed a fraudulent scheme using fake accounts without listing or buying any goods or services on the platform.<\/p>\n<p>Authorities report that he made deposits ranging from 200 to 2,000 BTC, then quickly withdrew funds in multiples. Zhong initiated over 140 such transactions, amassing a total of 50,000 BTC.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\"><p>\n<cite>\u201cApproximately 41,491 BTC remain, which the government will liquidate in four batches over the calendar year. [\u2026] The second round of liquidations will not occur until Zhong is sentenced,\u201d the documents state.<\/cite><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>At the time of writing, the remaining 41,491 BTC are valued at ~$1.8 billion.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Blockworks specialists speculated that in the coming months, the US government will again sell Bitcoins associated with Silk Road.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>In July, 9,824 BTC seized from the darknet marketplace were moved.<\/p>\n<p>In December, a US Appeals Court upheld the confiscation of 69,370 BTC belonging to Silk Road.<\/p>\n<p>The decision also applies to an equivalent amount of Bitcoin Cash, Bitcoin SV, and Bitcoin Gold forks.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The US government holds approximately 200,000 BTC, valued at $8.4 billion, according to Blockworks.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9660,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"select":"","news_style_id":"","cryptorium_level":"","_short_excerpt_text":"","creation_source":"","_metatest_mainpost_news_update":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[18,236,26],"class_list":["post-9661","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-and-analysis","tag-bitcoin","tag-silk-road","tag-usa"],"aioseo_notices":[],"amp_enabled":true,"views":"16","promo_type":"","layout_type":"","short_excerpt":"","is_update":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9661","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9661"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9661\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9660"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9661"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9661"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9661"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}