US Government Amasses $17.7 Billion Bitcoin Stash Through Criminal Seizures

The United States government currently holds approximately 198,109 Bitcoin, valued at around $17.7 billion. This substantial stash was primarily accumulated through seizures and forfeitures in various criminal cases. A portion of this Bitcoin will eventually be part of the country’s “Strategic Bitcoin Reserve,” established by an executive order signed by President Donald Trump on March 6. This reserve is designed to hold any Bitcoin forfeited as part of criminal or civil asset forfeiture proceedings or in satisfaction of any civil money penalty.

The executive order also mandates federal agencies to determine the amount of forfeited Bitcoin they hold, so it can be added to the reserve. While official audits are pending, several significant events have contributed to the United States becoming the world’s largest nation-state holder of Bitcoin. One of the most notable seizures occurred in November 2020, when US authorities confiscated 69,370 Bitcoin from an unidentified individual who hacked the illicit online marketplace Silk Road. This seizure, valued at $960 million at the time, was the largest crypto seizure in the country’s history. The hacker, known as “Individual X,” surrendered the funds after US officials traced the stolen Bitcoin linked to wallet addresses used to interact with Ross Ulbricht's Silk Road platform before it was shut down in 2013.

In January 2022, US law enforcement officers seized 94,636 Bitcoin from Bitfinex hacker Ilya Lichtenstein. This seizure was made possible after officials hacked into Lichtenstein’s cloud storage account, which contained a file with around 2,000 crypto wallet addresses and corresponding private keys. The seized Bitcoin represented about 80% of the 119,754 Bitcoin that Lichtenstein stole from Bitfinex. Lichtenstein and his wife Heather Morgan were sentenced to five years imprisonment and 18 months, respectively, in late 2024. However, it is important to note that the stolen Bitfinex funds are only seized funds and have not been forfeited, meaning they may be handed back to Bitfinex.

Another significant seizure occurred in March 2022, when US authorities confiscated 51,351 Bitcoin from a Silk Road hacker named James “Jimmy” Zhong. Zhong surrendered the funds around four months after US officials found Bitcoin devices in