‘Sodl’ too soon: US gov’t missed Bitcoin gains now total $6B
The second-largest Bitcoin (BTC) holder in the world, following Satoshi Nakamoto, is currently facing the prospect of significant losses amounting to billions of dollars.
David Becker 
The United States government still controls a significant amount of Bitcoin (BTC), with a total of 210,429 BTC under its possession as of October 31st, as reported by on-chain analytics firm Glassnode. However, the government's losses in terms of unrealized gains are steadily mounting.
The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and Internal Revenue Service (IRS) have inadvertently become one of the world's largest Bitcoin holders through various legal actions and confiscations over the years. While they have sold off a portion of their BTC holdings through auctions, the government has missed out on substantial potential gains. According to statistics compiled by Jameson Lopp, co-founder of Bitcoin custody firm Casa, the government has foregone over $6 billion in unrealized gains from the sale of 195,092 BTC.
No single entity other than Satoshi Nakamoto owns more BTC than the DOJ. For comparison, the largest corporate BTC treasury, held by MicroStrategy, consists of 158,245 BTC, valued at $5.43 billion, according to data from BitcoinTreasuries.
The DOJ's Bitcoin holdings have grown alongside announcements of confiscations. In early 2022, the government's BTC inventory increased by nearly 100,000 BTC, which was worth $3.6 billion at the time. This increase resulted from legal action against individuals accused of attempting to launder the proceeds of a 2016 hack of the major cryptocurrency exchange Bitfinex.
Billionaire investor Tim Draper, who participated in original BTC auctions, has criticized the U.S. government for hindering the growth of the cryptocurrency industry. He had previously predicted a $250,000 BTC price for 2022 but later suggested that policy failures were negatively impacting the growth potential of the crypto industry, which he referred to as the "golden goose of Silicon Valley."
