The previous US s-service (USMS) seems to carry a small holding of 29,000 bitcoins, a lot decrease than the over 200,000 BTC, which many thought was detained by the federal government.
The up to date figures confirmed by the Freedom of Info Act (FOIA) request by unbiased Crypto journalist L0LA L33TZ on July 16, totaling the federal government complete of 28,988 BTC as of March 2025.
At present costs, the stash is price round $3.4 billion. That is in stark distinction to the $23.5 billion estimates from blockchain analytics platforms resembling Arkham Intelligence and Bitcoin Treasuries.
The contradiction has sparked hypothesis throughout the crypto area, with some observers questioning whether or not the US is quietly promoting Bitcoin Holdings.
(Editor’s notice: On condition that President Trump introduced that Bitcoin seizures will grow to be a part of the strategic Bitcoin reserve earlier this yr, additionally it is attainable that Bitcoin is not beneath the custody of the previous US S.
Does the US promote Bitcoin?
Bitcoin Journal CEO David Bailey advised that the US is prone to promote a big portion of its BTC reserves earlier than President Donald Trump sworn in January. He identified that the dearth of seen on-chain exercise might show nothing as a result of custody involvement.
He mentioned:
“I believe it is essential that they promote it with out creating an Onchain footprint.”
Sani, a Bitcoin analyst who tracks suspected addresses linked to US authorities wallets, has not confirmed any current transactions from these addresses.
Nonetheless, he identified that conventional blockchain tracing might not make clear authorities actions if custodians like Coinbase are selling off-chain swap.
Sani added:
“It could not matter anymore, together with what’s actually occurring, all of the on-chain monitoring we have been doing, mine.”
Senator Cynthia Ramis, a nationwide Bitcoin Reserve Voice Advocate, responded with concern in regards to the improvement. She mentioned:
“If that is the case, it is a full strategic blunder and we’re again the US with the Bitcoin race.”
Seized vs. Bitcoin
L33TZ has revealed that the FOIA request will solely cowl “forfeitured” Bitcoin property which were legally transferred to authorities possession.
She mentioned many property, resembling ongoing investigations and people tied to hacks like Bitfinex, are usually not but authorities property and will reside in different federal businesses such because the DEA and the FBI.
She highlighted that platforms like Arkham may misrepresent the overall by combining crushed and confiscated cash. L33TZ identified:
“For instance, Arkham lists 94K BTC from Bitfinex Hack, however forfeiture of Bitfinex circumstances has not been determined a minimum of after we checked it final time.”
Blockchain safety skilled Taylor Monaghan identified that authorized custody just isn’t akin to possession, and supplied additional rationalization.
She famous that in lots of circumstances, the cash seized remained the property of the victims and would by no means grow to be property of the US authorities.
Monaghan highlighted ongoing authorized proceedings, from citizen confiscation to IEEPA, and decided the destiny of the seized property.
She cited a number of examples, together with circumstances during which the FBI holds $40 million within the code presently linked to the August 2024 theft, however these cash are anticipated to be returned to their reputable homeowners beneath the phrases of the judicial contract.
With this in thoughts, Monster Hunter states:
“Normally, cash seized by the USG won’t grow to be USG’s property. They are going to be returned to hacked or fraudulent victims.”
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