With governments now holding billions in BTC, China potentially selling its holdings, and the U.S. establishing a Bitcoin Strategic Reserve, the asset’s role in the global economy is evolving.
U.S. Holdings
U.S. holdings officially increased significantly following a historic seizure of 127,271 BTC, worth approximately $14 billion at the time.
It now commands 326,588 BTC worth $35.33 billion
The U.S. government is now the second-largest entity holding Bitcoin under Michael Saylor’s Strategy, which holds almost double that of the government.
Authorities charged Cambodian national Chen Zhi with wire fraud conspiracy and money laundering conspiracy.
Zhi was allegedly operating an international criminal network that involved forced labor, money laundering, investment schemes, theft, and so on.
Trafficked workers were forced to work in “prison-like compounds” and carry out online scams, an official release reads.
In addition, according to Arkham data, the U.S. government shuffled 652.62 BTC into an unknown wallet, which has since been sent to a secondary unknown wallet.
These funds are linked to the Sergei Potapenko and Ivan Turogin fraud case, in which the duo operated one of the largest crypto frauds in history, worth around $577 million, between 2015 and 2019.
For some time, the U.S. held the largest, ‘confirmed’ BTC stash of any government entity in the world, with 198,012 BTC worth $24.46 billion
There is contention, however. Despite Arkham’s on-chain data showing they’re still holding, a recent Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request has revealed that U.S. Marshals may control just 28,988 BTC, or $3.3 billion worth.
This has thrown the nation’s holdings into doubt, sparking concern amongst some of its government’s greatest BTC proponents.
Now, the United States has formally established a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve, marking a significant step in President Donald Trump’s pro-crypto agenda.
The reserve could expand significantly under the BITCOIN Act, which proposes acquiring up to 200,000 BTC annually over five years.
The U.S.’s move to establish a Bitcoin Strategic Reserve may inspire smaller nations to follow suit, especially as countries like Russia have approved Bitcoin mining, signaling a global race to secure Bitcoin or its infrastructure.
El Salvador
The nation continues with its “one BTC every day” policy despite expectations that it would have to roll back much of its Bitcoin policy and infrastructure as part of a $1.4 billion loan deal with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
Now, the nation holds 6,365 BTC worth $690.39 million.
Recently, El Salvador split its Bitcoin holdings across 15 different wallets, citing the future threat of quantum computing as its reasoning.
Each address is now limited to holding 500 BTC, reducing its risk exposure despite some experts in the industry, namely Strategy’s Michael Saylor, describing the possibility of a quantum computer hack on Bitcoin as just alarmist “hype.”
This includes ending its taxpayer-funded “1 BTC every day” investment strategy by July 2025. However, this is yet to come to fruition.
Toward the end of February 2025 and the beginning of March, the nation briefly accelerated its efforts, amassing 40 BTC over 30 days, perhaps to get ahead of the July deadline.
Bhutan BTC Boost
The Bhutan government’s Bitcoin balance continues to fluctuate as the nation’s hydroelectric-powered mining efforts replenish the handful of BTC it offloads on a semi-regular basis.
Since Oct. 20, it’s offloaded around 200 BTC.
On Sept. 29, Bhutan’s government transferred 2011 BTC worth $248 million and split them across several new wallets.
Presumably, Bhutan is following El Salvador’s lead, which recently split its BTC portfolio across 15 different wallets, claiming this was done to reduce risk exposure from a future quantum computing breakthrough.
On Sept. 18, Bhutan moved 913 BTC to two new wallets.
Other reports reveal that over the past two years, Bhutan has leveraged its BTC holdings to double the salary of civil service employees to retain skilled workers. This reduced the number of workers quitting from 1,900 in 2023 to just 500 in 2024.
Signaling the beginning of the nation’s proactive BTC push, Bhutan’s Prime Minister, Tshering Tobgay, also explained to Al Jazeera that the country’s decision to tap its abundant hydropower energy to fuel Bitcoin mining efforts will make “tremendous sense.”
Presumably, Bhutan is looking to bootstrap its economy with BTC, which has served its civil servants well.
UAE
Arkham data has revealed that the UAE nation now holds 6,420 BTC worth $692 million.
It’s been building up this stash via Citadel Mining, a BTC mining firm that is majority owned by the government’s conglomerate, the International Holding Company.
The initiative appears to have begun in 2022. Upon reaching around 8,600 BTC at the beginning of November 2024, the UAE dumped around 50% of its portfolio.
Following this, it steadily and consistently increased its holdings with occasional sales.
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) was previously rumored to have amassed an absurd 420,000 BTC.
Former Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao, now based in the UAE, added credibility to these claims by sharing them on social media, though the figures remain unconfirmed.
North Korea (Lazarus Group)
North Korea’s state-sponsored Lazarus Group has cemented the nation’s status as one of the world’s largest Bitcoin holders following its $1.5 billion Bybit heist.
Beginning in March with just over 14,000 BTC, the group has since offloaded around 13,200 BTC, generating at least $1.4 billion in proceeds.
The group was regularly offloading tiny portions of its remaining BTC, but has stopped in recent months, and now commands 803 BTC worth $99.14 million after years of orchestrating some of the most notorious crypto breaches.
Lazarus’ latest attack, the February 2025 Bybit hack, is history’s most significant crypto theft. The group reportedly stole and laundered $1.4 billion from the exchange.
These holdings, presumed to be controlled by the North Korean government, once exceeded the Bitcoin reserves of El Salvador and Bhutan, further underscoring Pyongyang’s reliance on crypto-related cybercrime.
China Bitcoin Liquidations
If confirmed, China may have offloaded its 190,000 BTC stash seized from the 2019 PlusToken scam, dropping it entirely from the global rankings.
On-chain analysis revealed that these tokens were sent to crypto mixers before being sent to centralized exchange addresses, suggesting that a sale has taken place.
It is unknown if this gigantic haul of BTC has been offloaded.
