- It may come as a surprise that governments own cryptocurrency.
- Governments mostly come to own crypto through confiscation.
- Bulgaria owns 200,000 BTC.
- US held a series of cryptocurrency auctions
Bitcoin (BTC) is the sole owner of the revolutionary paradigm shift in thinking witnessed by the financial world on what a currency is and can be. Currencies since time immemorial have been connected to financial institutions like banks, investment entities, etc. Bitcoin completely changed the face of the game by introducing a decentralized peer to peer network exhibiting cross border payments in milliseconds.
The Bitcoin evolution has outclassed the conventional monetary system in every department. Operating in a different realm, away from traditional finance platforms, cryptocurrency offers faster transactions, lower processing costs, and digital trading platforms operating 24/7. Now, where different governments are working towards central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) several governments own cryptocurrency.
Governments own cryptocurrency
Digital currency boom has attracted a lot of attention and coerced world governments to not only recognize it but to own it as the currency of the future. Reports suggest that governments across the globe are highly interested in trading with Bitcoins and few governments own cryptocurrency as well, albeit mostly through confiscation and activity against crimes.
The Swedish government has been in the news for trading in BTC for quite some time. The government has been making profits through auctioning BTC for the past three years as opposed to exchanging them.
Bulgarian government owns the second-highest number of bitcoins worldwide and, as per reports, suggest currently holding 200,000 BTC. Their government officials have been involved in illicitly owning BTCs worth 0.3 Billion that has led to legal proceedings; however, Bulgarian authorities have not commented on the news any further.
United States (US) has also joined the team of Swedish and Bulgarian governments and auctioned their BTC ownership away after being under scrutiny for illicit BTCs holding. A number of auctions were carried out by financial institutions in the US, a notable one that of 44.000 BTC by Silk Road Operator, Ross Ulbricht.
United States has given Bitcoin a legal status, similar to Japan, Canada, and the UK. A number of countries are still struggling to accept the decentralized concept of cryptocurrency notably India where the government has deemed the trade illegal.
