The United Kingdom considers selling over $7.2 billion of Bitcoin seized from criminals

The UK Home Office is considering a plan to sell all of the Bitcoin seized from criminal activities, with an estimated total value of over $7.2 billion. Notably, this includes 61,000 $BTC seized from a Ponzi scheme in 2018.

The plan and its opposition to global trends

This plan has garnered interest from Treasury Secretary Rachel Reeves, who wants to use the proceeds to offset the budget deficit. The Home Office aims to establish a centralized system to manage the storage and liquidation of Bitcoin within 4 years, with contracts inviting private entities worth $53.7 million.

If implemented, this move would contradict the general trend in many countries such as the US, El Salvador, Bhutan, Pakistan, and Kazakhstan, which are building strategic Bitcoin reserve funds, while major Western businesses are also actively accumulating cryptocurrency. Previously, the German government sold $2.89 billion of Bitcoin in mid-2024, and if retained, that amount would now be worth $5.64 billion. #England