The UK Home Office is sitting on 61,000 BTC - a crypto stash worth £5.4 billion, originally seized in 2018 from Jian Wen, who was tied to a massive Chinese Ponzi scheme. At the time, Bitcoin was trading at just £4,900. Today, each coin is worth over £92,000.
In May 2025, the UK issued a £40 million tender to create a "Crypto Storage and Realisation Framework" a centralized system to custody and liquidate seized crypto assets. But no acceptable bids were submitted.
Legal disputes from victims and estate claims could also delay the sale by 3-4 years.
Critics are already comparing this moment to Gordon Brown's infamous gold selloff in 1999, when Britain dumped reserves before a massive gold bull run. With the UK's £20B budget gap, many see crypto liquidation as a tempting fix - but the timing could make or break it.
