We’ve clarified the latest data: today, the richest Bitcoin address on the first cryptocurrency network belongs to cryptocurrency exchange Binance. It holds almost a quarter of a million BTC worth the equivalent of $6.6 billion. In second place is the Bitfinex exchange’s cold storage with a result of 178 thousand BTC.

That said, we’ve seen the serious impact of bitcoin news at the disposal of the US authorities on the market before. In particular, at the end of April the BTC exchange rate collapsed by more than 8 percent in just one hour. The reason for that was the untrue information that the US government and liquidators of the hacked Mt.Gox crypto-exchange were allegedly moving their own assets.

Since such operations could, in theory, only be conducted to sell digital assets and then impact the market, cryptocurrency owners could start panicking to get rid of coins, which would also lead to a similar result. Overall, the scheme continues to work.

How many bitcoins do US authorities have?

There are at least 50,000 BTC in cryptocurrencies under the control of the US government. Most of these coins came into the possession of government authorities after the forced shutdown of the Silk Road darknet trading platform nearly a decade ago.

In addition to the coins seized from Silk Road, this amount of assets also includes seizures from other platforms that have fallen into the crosshairs of government agencies.

The intentions of big market whales like MicroStrategy are understandable to investors: the company’s management has previously stated more than once that it is willing to hold bitcoins for the long term. But the US government’s intentions cannot be predicted, so in theory it could sell confiscated coins at any time.

So, because of that, the market could go into shock tomorrow, and investors have almost no tools to predict such events. Even news of a possible sale is enough. As we have already noted, even fake news about digital assets allegedly being moved from the purse strings of the authorities can affect the coin industry.

Gordon Grant, head of trading at Genesis Trading, noted that government cryptocurrencies are attracting more and more attention from analysts. Here’s a relevant rejoinder from the expert.

Market players have begun to monitor the emergence of various statistically reliable indicators of “genuine” sales by government agencies. They are also observing and assessing the timing and nature of execution of deals.

Grant added that Silk Road crypto-addresses associated with bitcoin seizures are becoming an important factor in shaping the Bitcoin price. He continues.

Due to the degree of transparency of the blockchain, there is much more scope for monitoring cryptocurrency movements than other government entities. Thus, in terms of scale, psychological significance and accuracy, the US government’s actions with bitcoins will remain under close scrutiny.

For officials, maintaining the stability of the crypto market does not play any significant role, with an interest in maintaining dollar dominance. If that requires another collapse in Bitcoin’s value, they will do so quickly, analysts concede.

In an interview with The Block, anonymous insiders said that the government could use Coinbase, the largest U.S. cryptocurrency exchange, for massive sales. Well, representatives of the trading platform declined to comment on the information received.

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The attack on the crypto market has also taken the form of direct directives from US President Joe Biden’s administration. In particular, its representatives have previously presented a plan to tax Bitcoin miners by 30 percent.

At the moment, the initiative is only being discussed. However, it is unlikely to become a reality, says Republican Senator Cynthia Lummis.

She shared her thoughts in a public discussion at the Bitcoin Miami 2023 conference with Perianne Boring, a member of the Chamber of Digital Commerce group. Boring stated that the mining companies from this organisation represent almost half of the Bitcoin network’s total hash rate. Accordingly, the prospect of heavy taxation is a massive cause for concern for miners.

However, Lummis is quick to assure everyone that the Biden administration’s plan will not be passed by lawmakers. The development of mining in the US is far more important than the misconception that the industry is allegedly seriously damaging the environment, reports CryptoPotato.

Rather the opposite is true – the senator has expressed support for big business in the industry. According to Lummis, miners have been a real boon to many energy companies. They enable the development of local energy networks and even help in recycling harmful substances, if electricity can be extracted from the process.

Even if the worst-case scenario materialises, miners “can survive” in any region. Severe restrictions on their business in the US would simply cause companies to flee to other countries, as was the case with China in 2021. As a reminder, the Chinese government then completely banned Bitcoin mining in the country, even though most of the cryptocurrency’s hash rate was located there. Miners simply migrated to other regions, and since then, the total computing power of devices in the BTC network has already set a new historic high several times.


We believe that this amount of bitcoins at the disposal of the US government is not necessarily a time bomb. Still, these coins can be sold in auctions, which is periodically practiced by government officials. Accordingly, the impact on the market in such a scenario will be minimal, and selling bitcoins will save crypto-investors from another headache. We'd like to believe that it will happen that way in the end.


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