Since the mid of 2020, MicroStrategy, a business intelligence firm, which is a pro-Bitcoin company, has continued gathering Bitcoin (BTC).
For almost three years, the company has continued building up a great stash of Bitcoin. So far, the company has managed to accumulate 132,000 Bitcoin tokens.
For the company, the holding is very significant, and no matter the downfalls, it has continued accumulating Bitcoin.
US Government is Still the Highest BTC Holder
Despite efforts, MicroStrategy fails to come close to the stash of Bitcoin that is currently in the possession of the US government.
According to the latest reports, the US government currently has the largest stash of Bitcoin. There is no other entity that has Bitcoin holdings higher than what is being held by the government of the United States.
It has been confirmed that the current holding of the US government for the Bitcoin tokens stands at 205,515. The total valuation of the Bitcoin tokens currently in possession of the US government stands at $5.66 billion.
The $5.66 billion valuation is based on the current trading price of Bitcoin.
US Government Confiscated the Bitcoin Tokens
The sources have confirmed that the US government accumulated a large stash of Bitcoin as a result of three major cases. It was in three major cases that the government of the United States was able to confiscate and accumulate these many tokens.
It was in November 2020 when the government of the United States confiscated the tokens after the seizure of the Silk Road. The other case involved the hack confiscation of the Bitfinex exchange back in 2022.
The third case involved James Zhong when the government seized Bitcoin from him in the year 2022. The three cases brought in 69,369, 94,643, and 51,326 Bitcoin tokens to the US government.
These tokens were confiscated from Individual X, Ilya Lichtenstein, and Zhong. Some tokens were also confiscated from Heather Morgan, the wife of Ilya Lichtenstein.
The Initial Holding was Even Higher
Glassnode, a major on-chain firm has revealed that the figure had been much higher than what they are now.
The data that the firm has collected, shows that the initial holding of the government was 215,338 Bitcoin tokens. However, the government moved around 9,823 Bitcoin tokens, which brought the figure down to 205,515.
The platform has reported that the government may move 40,000 Bitcoin tokens in the upcoming tokens. This will bring the total holding of the Bitcoin tokens even lower.
Despite the decline, the overall BTC holding of the US government would still be much higher than the second-largest BTC holding company.
From time to time, the government has continued moving the funds internally. It was recorded that the transfers that the government carried out were between its own wallets.
Data Shared by Dune Analytics
The firm that initially provided the figures of Bitcoin held by the US government was Dune Analytics.
The firm has reported that out of the total holding of the US government, the 44% of the holding comes from the Bitfinex exchange.
32.2% of the total holding comes from Individual X, and the rest comes from Zhong.
Dune Analytics has revealed that there is a high chance that the government of the United States may have more Bitcoin in possession. However, those tokens might be held in other or anonymous wallets.
Other Largest Holders
Although the Bitcoin holding of the US government is declining, it is still higher than the other major holders.
The first company that comes after the US government holding a high number of BTC is MicroStrategy with 132,500 BTC in possession.
However, the entity with the highest number of BTC in a number of wallets is Grayscale. The total stash it has from a number of wallets from around the world is 643,572 Bitcoin tokens.
The Binance exchange has a great stash of Bitcoin tokens as well. It has the stash in a number of cold wallets belonging to multiple exchanges it owns. As per the estimates, there are a total of 248,597 BTC held by the exchange in the cold wallets.