On March 6, President Donald Trump established the United States’ Strategic Bitcoin Reserve by executive order (EO), which Bitcoin News (BN) stated in coverage then that the reserve was originally designed to be,
“… funded with bitcoin seized in government criminal cases and will not be sold …”
Similar confirming reports were made by The Associated Press (AP), Reuters, CNN Business and most mainstream media (MSM) outlets as well. As also widely reported in MSM at the time, BN stated,
“Estimates say the U.S. government has around 200,000 bitcoin which is worth around $18 billion at today’s prices.”
Also reported by AP on March 6,
“Under Trump’s new order, the U.S. government will retain the estimated 200,000 bitcoin it’s already seized in criminal and civil proceedings …”
and much more notably, the EO also called for,
“… a ‘full accounting’ of the government’s bitcoin holdings, which (White House “Crypto Czar” David) Sacks said have never been fully audited. He added that the U.S. government has previously sold off about 195,000 bitcoin over the last decade for $366 million.”
A similar report by Mitrade the same day echoed the numbers, saying then,
“Data from Arkham Intelligence shows that the US Government currently possesses 198,012 Bitcoin, worth about $16 billion. The government sold around 50% of the 400,000 mined (seized) over the last decade …”
In both articles and by the MSM, much attention was given to the roughly $17 billion which that sold-off bitcoin “would be” worth today, if held, or as ABC News reported March 7 …
“… ‘the federal government has come into the possession of roughly 400,000 (total) bitcoin through civil or criminal asset forfeitures,’ Sacks said in an interview with ABC News’ Senior White House Correspondent Selina Wang.”
… totalling presumably, and by all published accounts in both the MSM and the bitcoin-specific news niche, approximately 200,000 bitcoin “reportedly” in possession of the U.S. government.
This – or frankly any – number has yet to be confirmed by U.S. officials following these projected totals, and as The Street and other MSM reported early this month, Trump’s EO came with a reporting deadline, stating,
“… all federal agencies are required to disclose their holdings of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies to the Secretary of the Treasury within 30 days. …”
… “within 30 days” of the March 6 EO, that is, which was April 5. The report also reiterated,
“White House’s crypto czar David Sacks had estimated on March 6 that the U.S. government owns about 200,000 Bitcoin. But there has never been a complete audit.”
The April 5 deadline was not met, no assets under management by the U.S. Treasury have been publicly disclosed as of today, and there still has not been any official confirmation of any specific amount of bitcoin the U.S. claims to hold.
As BN stated in January, of the known bitcoin in U.S. custody, 94,643 were seized in connection with the 2016 Bitfinex hack — which federal Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly ordered on Jan. 15 to be returned to the exchange.
The 94,643 bitcoin belonging to Bitfinex must of course be removed from these earlier, still enduring, estimates of 200,000.
Other established sources, varying from Al Jazeera to BBC to NPR to TIME, have likewise stuck to reporting the approximately 200,000 number, even in most recent days with no mainstream accounting for January’s now well-known Bitfinex differential, nor any traction for reporting significantly lower figures.
In light of the missed April 5 deadline to do so and the accompanying silence from U.S. authorities, social media posts expressing increasing skepticism over whether the U.S. holds any substantial amount of bitcoin today in reserve at all have begun to rise.
Longtime bitcoin OG and educator as well as co-founder and chief security officer at Casa, a bitcoin security and inheritance firm, in an alleged post dated July 27, 2024 (according to Grok AI), noted that the “95,000 bitcoin” from the hack “rightfully belongs” to Bitfinex; Lopp being perhaps the first to imply that the effective U.S. holdings might be lower than previously stated.
The post has since been deleted.
Similarly, searches state that bitcoiner and business builder Daniel Sempere Pico, boasting over 90,000 X followers, did or did not post musings on April 7 suggesting U.S. holdings may be as low as 20,000 bitcoin, relating to unconfirmed sales of Silk Road bitcoin, without any credible or MSM sources behind the speculation, however.
The post has since been deleted.
In fact further AI search, including both Grok and Chat GPT, implicates X user and trader “Tony Bet” and Metaplanet’s Dylan LeClair as posting statements of similar nature, along with another, allegedly, by Lopp, but all of which either never existed or have since been deleted.
A post which hasn’t been deleted, yet, by Adam Simecka, owner and founder of Hands Free Bitcoin and Manna Bitcoin, as the saying goes, “just comes right out and says” what many bitcoiners on social media are likewise arriving at, due to speculations of past bitcoin sales or even poor custody practices:
“I think the US is going to come out and say they lost the bitcoin.”
Simecka’s post received over 100 comments, including “missing gold” and Fort Knox references, and he later added,
“I have this sneaking suspicion that they will try to bait China/Russia into “beating” the US to a strong bitcoin position. I think this could be a part of that. I’m also considering the ByBit hack from Lazarus Group to be indirectly controlled by the US as well.”
Is the truth out there?
Is the problem with government all the trust that’s required to make it work, and the constant historical abuse of that trust?
