The story centers on a growing estimate that the U.S. government is among the largest holders of bitcoin because of years of criminal seizures rather than market purchases. Recent on-chain tracking from Arkham has attributed about 328,372 BTC, worth roughly $22 billion to $23 billion at the time of reporting, to U.S. government-linked addresses, a figure that is higher than older treasury estimates that tracked about 198,012 BTC as of December 2024. The holdings are largely traced to major cases such as the Bitfinex hack, Silk Road-related forfeitures, and newer large seizures including the Prince Group case, with the exact total depending on whether assets are counted before or after final forfeiture. The significance increased after a March 2025 executive order created a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and directed agencies to transfer finally forfeited bitcoin into a permanent reserve instead of selling it, marking a shift in U.S. policy from liquidation toward long-term retention of seized BTC.

AI-generated background, compiled from web sources — not editorial content.

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