“61,000 bitcoins from the British government are now making a lot of profit”

-->The United Kingdom (UK) has 61,000 bitcoins, which are worth more than $4 billion at the current price increase. This is evident from an analysis by Arkham Intelligence.

The UK Government is now on Arkham.

The UK Metropolitan Police seized 61,000 Bitcoin (currently worth $4B) from Jian Wen and Zhimin Qian in 2018, gaining access to the seized BTC in July 2021.

Qian had reportedly purchased the Bitcoin with funds from an investment fraud… pic.twitter.com/BVqRAkE1TW

— Arkham (@ArkhamIntel) March 4, 2024

United Kingdom and bitcoin

The country has 61,000 bitcoins that the Metropolitan Police confiscated from (fugitive) fraudsters Jian Wen and Zhimin Qian in 2018. The year 2018 is known as a bearish year. After peaking at $20,000 in late 2017, the price eventually plummeted to $3,200 in December 2018.

According to the analysts, the UK has not yet sold this huge amount through an auction, which is common for governments to do. It is unknown what the British government will do with these bitcoins.

Authorities gained access to the seized BTC in July 2021 in a fairly complicated case. Qian acquired Bitcoin through an ingenious investment fraud scheme that ran in China between 2014 and 2017. Earlier this year in January, Southwark Crown Court in London found that Qian had illegally acquired around £5 billion from more than 128,000 investors. This criminal money has been converted into bitcoin. The suspect is currently still on the run.

Moreover, in 2018, Qian attempted to buy property in London for P12.5 million. However, the law firm responsible for the transaction was unable to verify the source of the bitcoin used for the purchase and alerted authorities. They managed to recover a large part of the bitcoin.

Governments and bitcoin

Typically, governments sell seized bitcoins. Earlier in January, the US government filed a notice to auction approximately $130 million worth of BTC seized from Silk Road. The sale is expected to take place in two batches: one consisting of 2,874 BTC worth $129 million, and the other consisting of 58 BTC worth $3.3 million.

However, Edward Snowden expects that this year a national government, following the example of El Salvador, will purchase bitcoin (BTC). The prediction of the whistleblower stems from the increased interest in bitcoin in multiple sectors. Think of institutional investors, retailers, listed companies and nation states.

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