Bulgarian Gov’t Holds More Than 200,000 Bitcoins Worth $1.7 Billion, US Gov’t Sold 144,000 BTC For Just $50M

The Bulgarian government in May 2017 conducted a raid on illegal Bitcoin (BTC) activities, seizing over 200,000 Bitcoins that are now worth roughly $1.7 billion. Being in possession of such a large sum of Bitcoin, Bulgaria is now sitting on a massive sum of money that puts them on the road to overtake the UK gold reserves.

At the time, a press release said,

Members of this organized criminal group invested money from illegal activities into Bitcoin, and the authorities discovered about 200,000 bitcoins. The authorities have searched more than 100 addresses, suspects and vehicles. They have confiscated a large amount of money and equipment, communications equipment, computers, tablets, bank documents, etc. 23 suspects were arrested, 5 of whom were Bulgarian customs officers.

The British gold reserves are estimated to be in the range of $13 billion, so it may be some time before they are trumped by Bulgaria, but it is clear that the government now has the potential to gain access to a far larger sum by simply hodling the tokens.

The US government, on the other hand, sold their collection of Bitcoins for $50 million in 2015-16.

A public address for these tokens is not known. Crypto evangelist Anthony Pompliano has said that governments may be buying Bitcoin.