Germany Runs Out of Bitcoins: Which Country Will Shake the Crypto Market Next?
- Germany has just finalized the sale of 49,857 BTC tokens.
- The U.S. government owns approximately 213,000 BTC.
- El Salvador continues to purchase 1 BTC a day.
Now that the German government has finished selling billions worth of Bitcoin (BTC), investors are breathing a sigh of relief after it placed considerable selling pressure on the crypto markets.
That said, there are still several governments with significant stashes of BTC that are primed for the market. The question is, who will be next to offload?
U.S.A
According to Arkham Intelligence data , the U.S. government owns the most out of any government entity, commanding a whopping $13.8 billion across twelve crypto assets.
More specifically, most of its holdings are made up of Bitcoin, totaling $13.42 billion (213,000 BTC). It has a further $169.43 million in Ethereum (ETH) and another $121.73 million in Tether (USDT).
As for balances under $50 million, it holds $47.29 million in wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC), $22.98 million in Binance coin (BNB), and a further $10.14 million in USD Coin (USDC). Smaller balances of several or a few million include Dai (DAI), Wrapped Ethereum (WETH), Uniswap (UNI), and Tron (TRX).
Interestingly, Washington sold off its seized BTC stash and sold hundreds of millions worth across eleven auctions between 2014 and 2023. However, according to data from researcher and software engineer Jameson Lopp, the $366 million gained in these sales would have been worth $12.3 billion today.
It is perhaps this fact that has driven its total crypto holdings to double since the start of the year, suggesting that the American government is now eager to retain BTC on its balance sheets.
Regardless, the U.S. gov continues to steadily offload portions of its holdings to exchanges and other wallets.
China
Though unverified with any on-chain data, it is estimated that the Chinese government has at least 190,000 BTC and over 800,000 ETH, amongst other cryptos confiscated during the 2019 PlusToken scam.
Whether or not the Chinese government has sold these tokens is unverifiable at present, though CryptoQuant founder and CEO Ki Young Ju seems to think they did.
With an estimated $9 billion in BTC and over $2 billion in ETH, the Chinese government is unsurprisingly one of the largest crypto HODLers on the planet.
United Kingdom
Following Germany’s sale, the U.K. has become one of the wealthiest BTC-holding governments, with $3.8 billion under its command.
The U.K. has seized 61,245 BTC, held exclusively in Bitcoin. A significant portion of this figure was believed to have been added to its balance sheets earlier this year following Jian Wen’s arrest and the subsequent seizure of approximately $1.8 billion (61,000 BTC). That said, this figure has not been reflected on Arkham Intelligence, so this balance may yet need to be updated.
Will the U.K. sell the entire stash any time soon? Probably not. In late 2021, the U.K. held over $4 billion in BTC. It then steadily offloaded about 75% of that and floated a balance of just above $1 billion until 2023, when it seemingly began accumulating more seized BTC tokens.
Ukraine
Although the data hasn’t been updated for a couple of years, Ukraine is estimated to have at least 46,351 BTC tokens worth around $3 billion in its treasury.
The addition of Ukraine to this list is bittersweet. Following Russia’s invasion, the nation was forced to pool every single financial resource available to it and direct it towards defending itself.
It is presumed that Ukraine’s BTC balance is ever-shifting as it receives donations in Bitcoin and other crypto from around the world.
El Salvador
With $366 million held exclusively in Bitcoin, El Salvador is the least likely of any government entity to sell a single one of its 5,800 tokens.
In September 2021, El Salvador made history by becoming the first country to officially adopt Bitcoin as a legal currency in the nation, putting it on par with the U.S. dollar. Even more surprisingly, El Salvador has made Bitcoin a major part of its national economic policy, and to that end, it has committed to purchasing 1 BTC a day.
The nation faced harsh criticism from economists and observers who said President Nayib Bukele was making an extremely risky bet. But, looking at BTC price appreciation since 2021, the investment has clearly paid off.
Speculatively, were El Salvador to begin selling off its BTC treasury, it could be an indication that the nation’s economy is in deep trouble. Though these holdings pale in comparison to those of others, it is worthy of note given that it will increase by 1 BTC every day, which could lead to El Salvador government being one of the wealthiest Bitcoin holders in the world.
