Much has been said about the Bitcoin (BTC) seized from the Silk Road illicit marketplace and owned by the U.S. government at the very start of 2025.
Indeed, a BTC price downturn converged with the revelation that the Department of Justice (DoJ) retains the right to sell the coin to spark investor fears that the authorities either caused or are about to cause a significant cryptocurrency plunge.
Soon after, data indicating the selling might have begun gained attention, though a lack of confirmation across multiple sources raised the possibility the blip was little more than a bug, and, indeed, an examination of Federal Bitcoin holdings appears to back the notion there has been little selling to date.
At press time on January 15, the U.S. government is, perhaps surprisingly, one of the world’s largest holders of Bitcoin as it owns an impressive 198,109 BTC worth a staggering $19.21 billion, per the data Finbold retrieved from Arkham Intelligence.
For comparison, Michael Saylor’s MicroStrategy (NASDAQ: MSTR), the company best known for a pivot to a Bitcoin-based strategy several years ago and for buying massive quantities of the cryptocurrency every week in recent months, owns approximately 450,000 BTC – only about twice as much as the government.
U.S. government keeps ‘hodling’ Bitcoin despite clearance to sell
On-chain data also reveals that Washington has done relatively little selling despite its mostly cautious approach to digital assets and the fact that the notion of holding them in reserve started gaining traction only recently.
The Silk Road Bitcoin also appears untouched as data demonstrates there has been no reduction in the number of coins owned, meaning that the DoJ is holding off for unknown reasons despite having clearance to cash in on the seizure.
Additionally, no matter the reasons behind keeping the cryptocurrency, it is proving a lucrative development for the authorities, thanks to BTC’s substantial recent rally.
For example, Donald Trump’s re-election in November enabled the FBI to increase its digital assets fortune to $6.4 billion, while the value of the holdings grew to $6.7 billion by mid-January.
Such asset appreciation is directly tied to BTC’s recovery to its press time price of $96,663 after a brief January 13 plunge below $90,000. Still, this is not the highest potential value the FBI Bitcoin had in recent weeks, as it reached $7.4 billion on December 17.
Finally, whatever fortunes or losses come for Federal Bitcoin, they are all but guaranteed to remain unrealized unless the DoJ manages a record-breaking sale in the next 4 days. President-Elect Donald Trump promised to keep seized BTC indefinitely and use it as a basis for the much-discussed strategic national reserve.
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