Bulgaria Government Shocked To Discover It Owns $3 Billion In Bitcoin

[pitiflin]

Confiscation of bitcoin from criminals is not going to be easy thing ,you know. There are quite a few things that need to be taken into consideration. Confiscation of bitcoin has not only happened in Bulgaria but in many more countries. Point is confiscation scares people which is not a good thing. Legit guys feel scared of losing all their money. Bulgaria, Having 3 billion $ as it's GDP is almost equivalent to 5% of it's GDP. This indicator can be taken into consideration by many economies but not by confiscating but by some other measures.

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[frowsiter]

I`m from Bulgaria and i`m not sure that these news are true.There aren`t any information coming from the bulgarian media about this.If the bulgarian government really owns and really wants to sell these bitcoins,i think that they will do it after a few months.We don`t have to worry about the price being dumped.
After all,it`s only 3 billion USD.Such amount can`t have impact over the entire bitcoin price.

Cool. So we have someone officially from the Bulgaria to confirm that no news like that is being published over media or aired anywhere. Though the news was true I'm not sure that it would have impacted bitcoin negatively because we know very well in such situation people from the rest of the world try to buy more coin when the prices are dumped in negative zone. This is more or less good news for the investors, well in this case it would have been good news but there is no official release from it.

Th prices are dropping currently because of hard fork may be but I'm sure it will rise again once people come to know that they are going to get free coins. Lolz.

[Hui8]

Sometimes I feel like why they are shocked, and why would they ban it if they can adopt it and ask people to pay taxes for it. I mean this would be government’s second income except the national taxes. This will help taxation easy as well as the richness will come in no time within the nation. If they are lazy enough to implement the system within their country which can help them to achieve the proper protocol then they will always choose options like this to overcome that situation. Never understand why on the earth would they ban bitcoin and not get paid by it or create new employment vacancies for those who are interested in digital work force. Have you guys though of this.

[Tesorex]

Sometimes I feel like why they are shocked, and why would they ban it if they can adopt it and ask people to pay taxes for it. I mean this would be government’s second income except the national taxes. This will help taxation easy as well as the richness will come in no time within the nation. If they are lazy enough to implement the system within their country which can help them to achieve the proper protocol then they will always choose options like this to overcome that situation. Never understand why on the earth would they ban bitcoin and not get paid by it or create new employment vacancies for those who are interested in digital work force. Have you guys though of this.

You don't understand because you don't understand open source. when some countries invest massively on one coin to have control, other countries could invest on some other coin for the same reasons. how else some of the coins skyrocket?

I`m from Bulgaria and i`m not sure that these news are true.There aren`t any information coming from the bulgarian media about this.If the bulgarian government really owns and really wants to sell these bitcoins,i think that they will do it after a few months.We don`t have to worry about the price being dumped.
After all,it`s only 3 billion USD.Such amount can`t have impact over the entire bitcoin price.

Cool. So we have someone officially from the Bulgaria to confirm that no news like that is being published over media or aired anywhere. Though the news was true I'm not sure that it would have impacted bitcoin negatively because we know very well in such situation people from the rest of the world try to buy more coin when the prices are dumped in negative zone. This is more or less good news for the investors, well in this case it would have been good news but there is no official release from it.

Th prices are dropping currently because of hard fork may be but I'm sure it will rise again once people come to know that they are going to get free coins. Lolz.

They will never admit it in the media officially. if you were not kids you would've know that governments and their central banks answer to the world bank, if you find $3 Billion, first pay your debts to other countries, they are not admitting it to keep the money off the world bank's records.

[Mometaskers]

The question is when the Bulgarian government would dump these coins. Would they wait for the price to increase first?

As for governments just confiscating bitcoins and selling them, the dilemma for them is if they keep doing it often, the price drops but if they don't they'd miss out as ither governments do it.

[NeuroticFish]

The question is when the Bulgarian government would dump these coins. Would they wait for the price to increase first?

As for governments just confiscating bitcoins and selling them, the dilemma for them is if they keep doing it often, the price drops but if they don't they'd miss out as ither governments do it.

It may not be too easy to sell them. The laws usually ask for public auctions to sell confiscated goods.
And the buyer will do as he please with the bought coins. I expect the buyer be an investor that will not just dump the coins.
Another issue is.. the government will need somebody ("a specialist") to split that wealth to values people/companies can actually buy.
All takes time...

[Mometaskers]

The question is when the Bulgarian government would dump these coins. Would they wait for the price to increase first?

As for governments just confiscating bitcoins and selling them, the dilemma for them is if they keep doing it often, the price drops but if they don't they'd miss out as ither governments do it.

It may not be too easy to sell them. The laws usually ask for public auctions to sell confiscated goods.
And the buyer will do as he please with the bought coins. I expect the buyer be an investor that will not just dump the coins.
Another issue is.. the government will need somebody ("a specialist") to split that wealth to values people/companies can actually buy.
All takes time...

I hope that the Bulgarian laws have rules about bitcoins. Curious if it would count as "goods" rather than "money". From what I remember if the police finds cash it would go straight to the bank and then it's split between different agencies responsible for that operation since there's no point auctioning money.

But yeah, I'm curious how the Bulgarian government would handle this.

[Malaya]

Bulgaria’s GDP is about $52.4 billion (2016), so it is quite a shock that the Bulgarian Government is sitting on an approximate $3 billion worth of Bitcoins seized in an anti-corruption operation back in May.

Putting this into a little more glaring context, Bulgaria is holding 18% of the national debt in bitcoins...

Bulgarian law enforcement jointly worked with the Southeast European Law Enforcement Center (SELC), a regional organization comprised of 12 member states, to bust a sophisticated organized-crime network, arresting twenty-three Bulgarian nationals and seizing a total of 213,519 bitcoins.

SELC described the organized-crime scheme as the hacking of Bulgarian Custom’s computers and allowing those associated with the group to skip fees for importing goods into the country. To make it work, the group recruited corrupt Customs officers to upload a virus into government machines, so that hackers could establish remote access.

The organized criminal group consisted in Bulgarian nationals having connections in The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Hellenic Republic, Romania and Republic of Serbia. The modus operandi used was recruiting corrupted Customs officers in all involved countries with the purpose to infiltrate a virus in the Customs’ computerized systems. Once the virus installed, from distance, the offenders were able to finalize various transports, as in the Customs’ system appeared that the cargo was already checked and passed.

Further, SELC provided details of how the operation was conducted, involving a large-scale search of “more than 100 addresses, suspects, and vehicles.” Out of the 23 suspects arrested, 5 of them were Bulgarian Customs officers. Police seized “equipment, devices for communication, computers, tablets, and bank documents.”

Bulgarian authorities have searched more than 100 addresses, suspects and vehicles. A large quantity of money was seized, as well as equipment, devices for communication, computers, tablets, bank documents, etc. 23 suspects were arrested, 5 of them acting as Bulgarian Customs officers. As result of this criminal activity the damages recorded by the Customs Agency, only for year 2015, is around 10 million Leva.

Here is where things get interesting... Police also seized 213,519 bitcoins, at the time, worth $500 million. As of writing this article, the amount seized, is now worth approximately 3,676,583,661, according to CoinDesk.

As well, up to now were found in the virtual space bitcoin wallets of the main suspects with a total value of 213,519 bitcoins. As a reference, the value of one bitcoin is rating to 2354 USD. The offenders choose the bitcoin way of investing/saving the money, because it is rather difficult to be tracked and followed. 

SELC explained why the criminals used bitcoin,

The offenders choose the bitcoin way of investing/saving the money, because it is rather difficult to be tracked and followed.

What remains a mystery to most, is what the Bulgarian government will do with the seized bitcoins? As mentioned in the beginning, the national debt could certainly be reduced. Have we just discovered a large seller that is ready to pour cold water on the party?

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-12-08/bulgaria-government-shocked-discover-it-owns-3-billion-bitcoin

....

Not certain if this news caused the recent price decline. There was a bloomberg article claiming 1,000 people own 40% of bitcoin which might have scared off investors. There could be other reasons behind the recent decline, or it could be a sell off as traders dump to turn their profits.

There have been many posts on this forum claiming governments will shut down bitcoin or illegalize crypto. This article provides a 3rd option -- confiscation. States need not shut down bitcoin if they take it all from criminals, making themselves wealthier in the process.

Also, is it my imagination or is zerohedge assuming an anti crypto stance of late? It seems as if someone is pressuring ZH to publish news stories which criticize or attack bitcoin which is interesting.

Though people continuously stop or say negative things about bitcoin, they can't. Just imagine what happened now to bitcoin they just discovered, I'm sure many people were more encouraged to invest and believe on bitcoin. Not just Bulgaria, but there are so many other countries especially Japan or US who believe in Bitcoin.

[Don Pedro Dinero]

This news it quite positive. Governments may be scared of bitcoin, but in case like this they discover that having bitcoin they seized makes them actually wealthier. I would bet a lot of money that the Bulgarian Government is not going to pass any laws to forbid bitcoin, they are probably astonished.

Politicians usually go far behind innovations like this, but now they have to deal with it.

[bambazamba]

I think it will be keen to know what will be the next move of Bulgarian government upon bitcoins. It works different in the case of government and I think these seized bitcoins are going to stay seized for a long time as there will be number of discussions and meeting regarding its use. There are many options, they can opt for like selling all bitcoin at once  creating a storm in the market or they can auction the bitcoin at high prices and so on. I think they are likely to auction the bitcoin as funds like are most likely to generate revenue for once and country moves on.

[cindygirl]

This news it quite positive. Governments may be scared of bitcoin, but in case like this they discover that having bitcoin they seized makes them actually wealthier. I would bet a lot of money that the Bulgarian Government is not going to pass any laws to forbid bitcoin, they are probably astonished.

Politicians usually go far behind innovations like this, but now they have to deal with it.

Or to the contrary they could now be thinking about how to be even stricter on bitcoin and especially in terms of corruption or money laundering so that they can cease a further amount and be in an ever better position. It will be funny when it turns out they don't have the private key for those coins!

[farwellbit]

This news it quite positive. Governments may be scared of bitcoin, but in case like this they discover that having bitcoin they seized makes them actually wealthier. I would bet a lot of money that the Bulgarian Government is not going to pass any laws to forbid bitcoin, they are probably astonished.

Politicians usually go far behind innovations like this, but now they have to deal with it.

Or to the contrary they could now be thinking about how to be even stricter on bitcoin and especially in terms of corruption or money laundering so that they can cease a further amount and be in an ever better position. It will be funny when it turns out they don't have the private key for those coins!

When I read this title I just considered that wow dude such governments are so amazing that they are investing such bight amount in bitcoins. They are working better for their population but here the story is totally changed. Yes, they are making money and they even intend to do money laundering. Bitcoins will help them in such a case because they are decentralized and no one can reveal them out.

[Kemarit]

213,519 bitcoins

That is a massive amount of bitcoin just for a country imagine if they don't discover that one I think criminals will enjoying and harvest right now. Yes, the question is what do the Bulgarian government do with that seized amount of bitcoins? Bulgarian government would be rich by now and bitcoin price would skyrocketing again.

US Government seized more bitcoin before but they put it into auction. I think Bulgarian government intended not to sell those coin from the start and just decided to keep it. Are they supporting bitcoin in their country?

I don't know if bitcoin is accepted in their country or what, but that's one huge bitcoin that they did discover. If I'm the government I would auctions those similar to what US did and put the money into something meaningful. They could utilized that huge amount, improved their citizens lives, build infrastructure, there's a lot that can really be done with that money.

Also, is it my imagination or is zerohedge assuming an anti crypto stance of late? It seems as if someone is pressuring ZH to publish news stories which criticize or attack bitcoin which is interesting.

Zerohedge has a varied output on crypto. I guess Zerohedge is a team and "Tyler Durden" is a bunch of people. Sometimes they say Bitcoin is the second coming of Jesus, other times they say it's the devil. It's pretty confused for anyone used to reading a website that only has one side.

What is a permanent is the comment section. It's filled with clueless old goldbugs that have been watching BTC fo up since the beginning, and they are still in denial.

Yes, Zerhedge has varied output about bitcoin and cryptos, but for me they are really more a "GOLD" nut hugger. And what's funny is that they will praise bitcoin in the first paragraph of their article, then lash at it at the end. LOL. And I don't think that they are pressured or something as OP might speculate, they have been like this for the last 6 months, so I assume they are anti crypto's to begin with and more of a Gold website.

[ElvenRaider]

i wonder what Bulgaria government do with that BTC coin now
i hope you can update this news here

Now this is some news.
I really thought criminals were using more monero, dash and zcash.
Could this affect the price of bitcoin?
Do criminals really contribute to the very nice bitcoin price?

i do not know but everyone said that the first group use BTC is criminal and after that BTC  use by many people but i'm sure some bad group keep use it
maybe they will change to other coin because for security reason
maybe just like you said that monero, dash and zcash
still anonymious

There was a bloomberg article claiming 1,000 people own 40% of bitcoin which might have scared off investors.

This is a bit scary if it is true, and indeed a reason to shy away,
How true could this be?

i wonder if 1000 people or 1000 BTC address
because i've read about some top BTC address that hold BTC coin is exchanger not person
link please... want to know more details

[Cobalt9317]

That price of BTC can influence the market to crash or rise, even though it is not easy to convert all of that coins in one day or two even if you own a business to prove that you have a money, a billion amount of fiat currency is not easy to pull from the government that is why Bitcoin have been accused to be an anti-money laundering.

P.S I hope that a small fraction of that money goes to charity work. 

[eekkaa]

they know the development of bitcoin and they believe in bitcoin because bitcoin is a precious digital currency in the future they do not want to miss the opportunity to make its country become rich.

[StayFly]

There, blessing out of thin air for a country, people say Bitcoin has been used by criminals, they never say that governments bust them and take their Bitcoins, happy dumping Bulgarian government, happy dumping, who wouldn't?

Yes, governments seized bitcoin from people and when they discovers it is worth a lot of money government officials stole it for themselves in the name of the auctioning.

[fanbeila]

Even other countries may get more shocked when they would discover most of their money in bitcoins.It clearly shows that people are losing their trust in government issued currencies.They find bitcoin to be a safe haven.Even this amount would be very high if checked in US and other developed states.I think that they would dump it to recover the huge money.

[DenkoViewly]

So, the question remains. Will the Bulgarian Government HODL and sit on 10b this time next year or would they just buy a bunch of alts and wait for a dip to buy BTC and make it 12b by this time next year? 

[MoonJeina]

That was shocking to know that Bulgaria is also involved in bitcoin .
Everyday such census comes from different countries and shock me . That indicates that the world is not that unaware of bitcoin though .
This would be ideal if they keep the bitcoins because the billion value may turn out to be doubled in future.