[LIST] Countries that own bitcoin

[Shenzou]

I don't really think there will be any country that is going to be declaring the use of bitcoin as it is main method, any time soon, because they will all be looking at how will affect the economy of elsalvador, and even if they do i don't think that they will be buying any bitcoin just to use it for storing, they will probably let people just use the bitcoin freely.

[1715474697]

1715474697

[1715474697]

1715474697

[1715474697]

1715474697

[molsewid]

The information about who owns bitcoin and which country owns bitcoin can not be exact, ever. That's the point of bitcoin, there is none who knows which country got more bitcoins. For example, China government seems to be a bitcoin hater as a communist government but we can not be sure if they are investing and using bitcoin or not, surely they are, but in multiple small wallets. There is the same story for El Salvador and the other countries, they say we bought bitcoins but this can be just some news released from their government to play with the price and their own economic system.

El Salvador was now quite known owning that huge amount of bitcoin because the government announcing it publicly that's why on the list of OP El Salvador was the only on the list but to be honest we don't really know exactly what other countries owned bitcoin. Reading the thread I was also curious about China which is I guess its impossible for the government to not consider about the huge potential of this digital finance platform also does Japan is one of the country that was open in bitcoin right.

[so98nn]

This is good initiative and I will try to contribute into this thread as soon as I get to know about the news when a country owns something.

So there is one thing I guess we can do here right now, you list out all the countries in that table for now. As we move forward in the time and get to know whose buying how much you can just rank them according to what they own and how much.

I see that seized bitcoin category is already out of the option since by definition the state/government does not own it. The owner is still the one who bought it in first place. Otherwise we will end up having all the countries in the above list because somewhere some country always capturing criminals who use bitcoin.

[Oasisman]

OP should change the title into "Countries that announced and confirmed possession of Bitcoin" because as far as I know, there were several countries who owned Bitcoin but didn't publicize the amount nor it has an official confirmation about their Bitcoin possession.
There might be no other countries that follows what the El Salvador president did. Bitcoin isn't really suitable for daily transactions, people will inevitably keep Bitcoin as a store of value than spending it to essential needs.

[lixer]

If they had 700 bitcoin, it's enough for them to live like a king for the period if thousand years.And it with a conditions apply.Because we don't know, bitcoin will survive for that much years and can't be sure.Secondly he need to handover the control of bitcoin to next generation. If the handover missed out in any generation. Then everything everything get into soil.

I wouldn't be so sure about that part. I mean definitely a good amount, but who could hold it for a thousand years. I also believe that we probably won't see thousand years with the same nations. How many nations are out there with the same exact land they had a thousand years ago?

I do believe that they will keep on getting more and more in the end as well, it is just way too common for these type of big investors (even though El Salvador might be considered small nation, they are a big investor) they could totally gather more and more. This is why I believe that we should consider them getting thousands by few years time.

[NeuroticFish]

In the context of the current drama, I've stumbled over a list that tells that:

* China owns 194,775BTC
* US owns 70,124.95BTC
* Ontario owns 281.41BTC

Source: https://www.kevinrooke.com/bitcoin (coming from https://twitter.com/fillippone1/status/1441702903207579650)

[Lucius]

@NeuroticFish, It would be more accurate to say that China seized a certain amount of cryptocurrencies, but they were also sold in 2020, at least according to some reports that were made public. So in the context of what happened in El Salvador, all these cases are completely different if we are talking about a government owning something because of investing, in relation to the possession of something as a result of a seizure.


Source

[tyz]

Source: https://www.kevinrooke.com/bitcoin (coming from https://twitter.com/fillippone1/status/1441702903207579650)

Thanks for sharing the list. I took a look at it. I would not bet on whether this is still up to date. According to the list, the Chinese government owns about 1% of all Bitcoins through a seizure. The news or the source of it is almost a year old. I doubt if China still owns those Bitcoins. A proof of Bitcoin address holding them would be much more valuable. Similarly with other alleged bitcoin ownership by governments.

[NeuroticFish]

It would be more accurate to say that China seized a certain amount of cryptocurrencies, but they were also sold in 2020, at least according to some reports that were made public. So in the context of what happened in El Salvador, all these cases are completely different if we are talking about a government owning something because of investing, in relation to the possession of something as a result of a seizure.

I already said, a few days ago in this very topic that these coins, resulted from seizures are most probably not worthy for the list, since they are supposed to be auctioned (sooner or later).
Still, I think that they are of interest, at least to be mentioned (again: in a post, not in the topic).

Of course, the fact that those coins are already sold, is another story = it's an update I was not aware of and thank you for that.

[Ausgewielt]

El Salvador only have 700 btc? I think it is not so big for the a country even I ever have a cryptocurrency worth of more than 1 btc when the price of btc was 20k. But it still okay. By the way maybe china has a lot of btc but why the government against Bitcoin?. Actually we don't know if some countries also secretly hoard bitcoin. Who know?.

[jaysabi]

I know it may seem early to make such a list, but I hope it will be filled up quickly in the coming years.
Today we have the first country to announce that it owns Bitcoin.
If you have information about other countries, add it below.

|	. Name .............................................	|	...... Amount ...................	|	...... Source ......	|
|	El Salvador	|	.......700 BTC	|	...Click here	|
|		|		|		|
|		|		|		|
|		|		|		|

Change Log

Code:

Technically the US currently owns bitcoin too, since coins have been seized as part of investigations into illicit activities.  The coins are custodied by law enforcement until they get a court order to sell them.  Although it's probably not what you're looking for because they're not bought for treasury purposes, the US government technically owns the coins until they're sold nonetheless.

[davis196]

Bulgaria
The Bulgarian government seized more than 200,000 bitcoins from the results of an organized crime crackdown in May 2017, according to reporting by CoinDesk. The sting resulted in the arrest of 23 Bulgarian nationals and the seizure of bitcoin valued at $3.3 billion at the time. As of late November 2017, the Bulgarian government declined to comment on what would happen with the seized digital currency, indicating that there was an ongoing criminal investigation.

I live in Bulgaria and I have NEVER heard any news about 3.3 billion USD worth of BTC confiscated by the government.I'm talking about the local newspapers,news websites and televisions.
If this was real,I guess that it would have been pretty big news and everyone in Bulgaria would know about it,but that's not the case.
I assume that this is some made up gossip that has nothing to do with the truth.
Maybe some corrupted government officials have stolen the confiscated BTC.
Anyway,I don't believe that any other country will follow El Salvador and buy Bitcoins anytime soon.
Maybe underdeveloped countries that have weak national currencies like Venezuela and Zimbabwe will buy some BTC in the future.

[Lucius]

I live in Bulgaria and I have NEVER heard any news about 3.3 billion USD worth of BTC confiscated by the government.I'm talking about the local newspapers,news websites and televisions.

Well, it didn't happen recently, but at least 5-6 years ago, and then it was pretty big news considering that it was an international police operation. In addition, there are official statements by the Bulgarian Finance Minister from 2018 that the seized cryptocurrencies have been sold and even described how this was done. If you had just read a few posts on this topic some things would have been much clearer to you.

[jakdanyel]

It is not too early to make a list about this actually. Because some other governments are already thinking of making Bitcoin legal tender. And we can see new moves from them in the near future. And it wouldn't make me surprised if we see Latin American countries mostly. Because they have been the countries that are mostly interested in owning Bitcoin and making it legal tender.

[aysg76]

I remember that Bulgaria seized a large amount ^213,519 of Bitcoin from criminals. It is official, I guess they still hold it.

No, they no longer own that.

On the same page, even Romania had some seized crypto for auctioning and at least at start they've been asking way more than the market price; I didn't follow the story and I don't know if it's the same money, but I see some news about crypto being auctioned successfully.

On the other hand, doesn't US have any seized Bitcoin at all? I guess that they may have some which wasn't auctioned yet...


But... I am not convinced that these numbers are worthy for that list, since these coins are supposed to be auctioned pretty fast (sometimes it does happen fast, sometimes not), while El Salvador's bitcoin is there to stay (at least as long as the current president).

The FED auctioned 50k bitcoins worth $13 million approximately in 2015 confiscated after the shut down of the silk road and many more coins were also seized during that period which they timely auction and who knows whether they are still holding them or not as US always have beem keeping secrets 
According to the reports more than 69000 btc were seized worth billions at that time also and they have auctioned them but who knows the real scene behind it.

[EdenHazard]

I may be very wrong but I believe Bulgaria and Ukraine own Bitcoin as well, seized Bitcoins to be specific.  The United States may also own some seized Bitcoins although I believe they auctioned all or most of it long time ago.

-
Regards,
PrivacyG

There was a rumor that Bulgaria holds 200,000 BTC but it has never been proved. There was also a report how Ukrainian officials hold a lot of BTC, but it's not accurate and exaggerated.

A lot of countries hold Bitcoin in a sense that it was seized from criminals, but El Salvador is the first and only country that officially bought Bitcoin.

Well it's impossible if a crazy country like russia , ukraina etc didnt follow bitcoin up and own some of them , they like to war and bitcoin is the perfect one to funding it , anonymously and get high return after a while... thats what might they think in bitcoin.

i still believe there is a lot of country out there holding bitcoin secretly quietly. the list are indeed should be larger

[Kong Hey Pakboy]

Are they the only country that have bitcoins? I don't think that they're the only country that have bitcoin. In all this years, how come there's no other country besides El Salvador that owns bitcoin, pretty sure that some countries have some bitcoins in their pockets.

[Lucius]

~snip~

What you think and what is a fact is completely different things. No country (except El Salvador) has publicly announced that it has bought Bitcoin, and those who may have done so (secretly) have an interest in keeping it a secret. Imagine what would happen if some of the powerful countries of the world announced such news, the price of BTC would skyrocket - which is not good for further investment, nor for the security of that investment. In addition, each country would give full legitimacy to Bitcoin with such public recognition, and each sovereign state protects its national currency in the first place.

The world is not an open book where you can know everything you want, you only know what you are allowed to know.

[nullama]

This site lists some countries that own bitcoin:
https://www.buybitcoinworldwide.com/treasuries/#countries

It's not completely correct though.

For example, this website claims Bulgaria sold all those BTC:
https://bitcoinist.com/bulgaria-not-bitcoin-1-6b-finance-minister/

According to Bulgarian media outlets, however, no such BTC reserves exist.
Specifically, local news publication Bivol wrote in April 2018, the government auctioned off its haul in a low-key affair which involved various international buyers.

In the case of Georgia, it's actually individual people, members of parliament, who hold the bitcoins, not the country:
source: https://medium.com/@Max_BTC/georgias-members-of-parliament-together-own-66-bitcoins-7238835ec49f

By that logic then the US should also be in the list, since US Senator Cynthia Lummis has 5 Bitcoins
source: https://cryptoslate.com/us-senator-cynthia-lummis-says-bitcoin-should-be-part-of-retirement-portfolio/

And the Ukraine data is not very reliable. There doesn't seem to be any official statement about it.

In the end, El Salvador is probably the only government that actually has Bitcoins, at least openly.

[philipma1957]

This site lists some countries that own bitcoin:
https://www.buybitcoinworldwide.com/treasuries/#countries

It's not completely correct though.

For example, this website claims Bulgaria sold all those BTC:
https://bitcoinist.com/bulgaria-not-bitcoin-1-6b-finance-minister/

According to Bulgarian media outlets, however, no such BTC reserves exist.
Specifically, local news publication Bivol wrote in April 2018, the government auctioned off its haul in a low-key affair which involved various international buyers.

In the case of Georgia, it's actually individual people, members of parliament, who hold the bitcoins, not the country:
source: https://medium.com/@Max_BTC/georgias-members-of-parliament-together-own-66-bitcoins-7238835ec49f

By that logic then the US should also be in the list, since US Senator Cynthia Lummis has 5 Bitcoins
source: https://cryptoslate.com/us-senator-cynthia-lummis-says-bitcoin-should-be-part-of-retirement-portfolio/

And the Ukraine data is not very reliable. There doesn't seem to be any official statement about it.

In the end, El Salvador is probably the only government that actually has Bitcoins, at least openly.

I think Norway has put some in all of its people's pension funds.