UK working to sell $7B in seized Bitcoin to boost budget:
A new report suggests the UK Treasury is working to sell up to $7 billion worth of seized Bitcoin, but one person has slammed the report as “sensationalism” amid a crypto bull run.
The UK is reportedly eyeing the sale of over 5 billion British pounds ($6.7 billion) worth of seized Bitcoin to help fill a deficit in the country’s budget.
The Home Office and the head of the country’s Treasury, Rachel Reeves, are working with law enforcement to sell off its stockpile of seized Bitcoin BTC $118,791 and are developing a system to securely store the crypto ahead of the planned sell-off, The Telegraph reported on Saturday.
Such a sale could potentially dent a recently renewed Bitcoin and crypto rally.
Police handle crypto sales in the UK, but the Treasury is reportedly involved as the crypto market has rallied, boosting the value of the government’s holdings.
The total amount of seized Bitcoin the country is holding is not known, but it contains at least 61,000 Bitcoin, currently worth around $7.1 billion, seized from a Chinese Ponzi scheme in 2018 that was being held in the UK.
The idea of the UK selling its Bitcoin was floated earlier this year, with The Daily Mail and The Times reporting in January that Reeves could sell the Bitcoin stash to plug the country’s budget.
