El Salvador and Ukraine are among the main countries that possess bitcoins in the world.
Many people wonder what role Bitcoin plays in world governments.
While for some countries like El Salvador, Bitcoin represents a store of value, for others like Ukraine, the cryptocurrency has become an alternative to overcome sanctions and access financial resources.
It is estimated that, currently, Nearly a quarter of a million bitcoins are held by governmentsFigures published by the Buy Bitcoin Worldwide platform show that the governments of China, Ukraine, El Salvador, Finland and Georgia are the five main countries with the largest holdings of this cryptocurrency.
Source: Buy Bitcoin Worldwide
From China to Georgia, the main countries that own bitcoins
According to the platform's data, China is one of the main BTC whales. Reports indicate that the Asian power holds a total of 194.000 BTC proceeds from the seizure of the Plus Token scam platform. This amount of bitcoins represents 0,92% of the total supply of the cryptocurrency, set at 21 million BTC.
China is followed by Ukraine and El Salvador as the second and third countries with the largest holdings of bitcoins, respectively. According to the data, 46.351 BTC are held by the Ukrainian government, which since the beginning of last year began to adopt cryptoassets and legalize their use and trade to receive several million dollars in funds after the war against Russia.
Moreover, El Salvador has accumulated a total of 2.381 BTC in its treasury since it legalized Bitcoin. In September 2021, the Central American nation passed a bill declaring Bitcoin legal tender. Since then, its president Nayib Bukele has been buying bitcoins, taking advantage of crypto market corrections to increase the country’s BTC holdings, despite the criticism he has received for doing so.
Finland and Georgia rank as the fourth and fifth countries for bitcoin ownership. According to Buy Bitcoin Worldwide, These two countries hold 2.047 BTC; less than 0,1% of the total BTC supply. The bitcoins held by Finland are the result of confiscations made by the government as a result of its investigations. Part of these were to be donated to Ukraine as war funds, the country's finance minister, Annika Saarikko, announced in April last year.
The bitcoins held by these five world governments are valued at over $5.682 billion USD, at the time of writing this article.
The United States, an unknown quantity
Although not mentioned in Buy Bitcoin Worldwide's data, the United States is another of the world's largest Bitcoin holders. The U.S. government is estimated to own several billion dollars worth of BTC, although an exact figure is unknown.
By November 2021, the US Department of Justice had seized nearly 50.000 BTC associated with Silk Road. In February last year, it announced the Seizure of over 94.000 BTC linked to the Bitfinex hack, which occurred in 2016.
According to Buy Bitcoin Worldwide data, the 7,78% of Bitcoin supply is held by 65 entities, which include the aforementioned governments, as well as companies and financial organizations.
Continue reading: What if governments have more Bitcoin than exchanges?
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