Original｜Odaily Planet Daily ( @OdailyChina )
Author: Wenser ( @wenser 2010 )
The Bybit $1.5 billion security incident has come to a temporary end, and the North Korean hacker group Lazarus Group, which was behind the incident, has also ranked third in the list of government entities holding Bitcoin, surpassing the two largest BTC diamond holders in Bhutan and El Salvador, and the number of holdings is second only to the United States and the United Kingdom. Many people joked that North Korea has established a national Bitcoin reserve ahead of most countries in the world, and is expected to surpass the United States to become the largest government entity holding Bitcoin in the future. Odaily Planet Daily will briefly introduce the top 5 government entities holding Bitcoin on the BTC chain based on the relevant data of the Arkham platform in this article for readers reference. ( Recommended reading: A look at the BTC national reserve rankings, who holds the most in China and the United States? )
United States: Nearly 200,000 BTC, well-deserved No. 1 in national reserves
Consistent with what we mentioned earlier, according to Arkham data, the number of BTC currently held by the US government remains at around 198,000. Due to the decline in BTC prices, the value of its holdings has shrunk from around $20.1 billion in January to around $17 billion at present.
At the same time, there are two things that have changed the US governments BTC holdings: first, Trump signed an executive order to establish a BTC strategic reserve by confiscating BTC and other assets (see Trump established a BTC strategic reserve as promised, but the source of funds is purely based on confiscations? ); second, the New Bitcoin Reserve Act for 1 million BTC is ready to go, waiting for a new round of voting and review by US government departments (see New Bitcoin Act Submitted, 1 million BTC Buying Orders Still on the Way? ).
In addition, various states in the United States have also promoted plans related to BTC investment reserves, among which Texas is the most radical. For details, please see the article Investing $500 million in Bitcoin reserves, is Texas leading the way in building a crypto utopia?
United Kingdom: Over 60,000 BTC, second largest verifiable holding on the chain
According to Arkham data, the UK governments BTC holdings remain at 61,245, and the value of its holdings has also fallen from $6.24 billion in January to $5.26 billion today.
However, unlike the US government’s ambitious plans for BTC strategic reserves, the British government is not interested in BTC strategic reserves.
Earlier news , the UK Treasury said it had no plans to introduce US-style Bitcoin reserves. This can be seen from the fact that the UK governments holdings do not include other cryptocurrencies.
North Korean hacker group Lazarus Group: holding more than 13,500 BTC, mainly stolen funds
As a well-known hacker group in the industry, Lazarus Group is a group of on-chain hackers raised by the North Korean government. For more than a decade, they have been transferring various types of stolen funds to the North Korean government in various forms. In February this year, it successfully stole more than 400,000 ETH on-chain funds from the Bybit exchange cold wallet, and washed them into BTC through various mixers and cross-chain bridges in just a few days.
According to Arkham data, Lazarus Group currently holds around 13,500 BTC, worth $1.16 billion.
Bhutanese Royal Family: Mining income, sold in the market, holding more than 10,000 BTC
Compared with the US and UK governments, the Bhutanese royal family obtains BTC in a more Crypto Native way - mainly through mining, and will sell it at the market peak or at the right time in exchange for profit. It can be seen that the Bhutanese royal familys BTC is not a national strategic reserve, but more like a financial transaction conducted by the royal familys investment and financial management company, obtaining it at a low price and selling it at a high price.
Similarly, the value of the Bhutanese royal family’s BTC holdings has also decreased from 11,600 BTC worth $1.19 billion in January to the current 106,350 BTC, worth approximately $912 million.
El Salvador: Invest one BTC every day to build your dream
Compared with the government entities of the previous countries, El Salvador’s attitude towards BTC is closer to that of a “believer” - in addition to the usual increase of 1 BTC per day, it also occasionally increases the number of BTC purchased, and clearly publicizes it on the national website and on the chain. It has to be said that El Salvador is definitely a “BTC diamond hand”.
Previously, El Salvador had argued with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) that the use of the $1.4 billion loan did not include the purchase of BTC. In the end, El Salvador won a critical window period - the IMF loan agreement took effect on April 30. Before that, El Salvador can still buy BTC, and BTC is still the legal currency recognized by the government. For more about the love-hate relationship between El Salvador and BTC, please see the article Awakening: Why is El Salvador, which buys Bitcoin at the bottom every day, getting poorer and poorer?
As of March 20, El Salvador held 6,121.18 BTC, worth $525.9 million, and had increased its holdings by 41 BTC in the past 30 days. Compared with the 6,010 BTC held in January, it increased by about 111 BTC, but the overall asset value fell by about 16% from $612 million.
