"The most painful thing in the world is not that you don't have bitcoin, but that you once had it—then sold it off."

In the past decade, countless individuals, companies, and even countries once owned bitcoins. Some obtained massive amounts of BTC through seizures, others through investments, and some through early mining, but ultimately, due to lack of understanding, financial pressure, and short-termism, they chose to exit early, leaving behind one regretful 'sell-off' story after another.

1. Bulgaria: The national-level king of sell-offs.

In 2017, Bulgarian police unexpectedly seized 213,519 bitcoins during a crackdown. Based on the average price at that time of about 2,400 dollars, this asset was worth only 500 million dollars.

A year later, during the bear market of 2018, the Bulgarian government quietly liquidated this batch of bitcoins, with a total value of only about 2 billion dollars.

By 2025, this batch of bitcoins was valued at over 25 billion dollars, nearly equal to one-third of Bulgaria's national GDP. An opportunity for a national-level wealth leap was sold at a historical low.

Ironically, the authorities did not even clearly disclose the whereabouts of this asset, and there are rumors that part of it flowed into 'private enterprises', becoming evidence of the shadow economy in Eastern Europe.

2. Germany: The liquidation fears of a modern state.

In 2024, the German government began selling off the bitcoins seized by its law enforcement agencies for many years, totaling over 50,000 BTC. These assets were sold in batches through exchanges, causing severe fluctuations in bitcoin prices and spreading market panic.

The reason is simple—neither the German Ministry of Finance nor the police wanted to 'hold risky assets' and preferred to cash out as soon as possible. These sales were made at an average price of around 58,000 dollars, totaling over 2 billion dollars.

Now, the value of 50,000 bitcoins has exceeded 5.8 billion dollars.

But no one wanted to wait to calculate this account; the Germans chose to 'exit cleanly and decisively', at the cost of missing out on future surges.

3. UK: Preparing for a 'sell-off'.

In July 2025, the UK Treasury announced plans to liquidate 60,000 bitcoins in the second half of the year. This batch of bitcoins is valued at about 3.6 billion dollars, mainly sourced from seizures in early criminal investigations.

It is worth noting that the source of these 60,000 bitcoins is closely related to victims in China. It involves the case of Tianjin Lantian Gerui Electronic Technology Co., Ltd. illegally absorbing public deposits, with bitcoins involved amounting to 61,000, affecting about 130,000 investors.

In April 2024, Qian Zhiming (then under the alias Yadi Zhang), who was arrested in the UK, was the main suspect in the illegal deposit case of Lantian Gerui. According to British police reports, the 61,000 large amount of cryptocurrency seized in a previous money laundering crime originated from Qian Zhiming's economic fraud in China, leading to his arrest. This case became the largest-scale transnational bitcoin money laundering case seized in British history.

Unlike Germany's direct dumping method, the UK tends to adopt a 'gentle selling' strategy, such as through directed distribution and OTC channels, to reduce market impact. But regardless of the method used, this is undoubtedly another typical case of a country 'abandoning Bitcoin'.

This inevitably raises the question: As Bitcoin gradually becomes a sovereign reserve option for more and more countries, is the UK's action a desperate attempt to survive, or does it signify that it has missed the opportunities for future development?

4. Pizza Guy: The original sin romance of Bitcoin.

In May 2010, programmer Laszlo Hanyecz bought two pizzas for 10,000 bitcoins, about 41 dollars.

This is the famous 'Bitcoin Pizza Day'. Today, those 10,000 BTC are worth about 1.1 billion dollars, making it the most expensive pizza in history.

But Hanyecz does not regret it: 'That was the first time Bitcoin became a currency in the real world.' His story is not about selling off, but a spark of faith—illuminating the entire history of Bitcoin circulation.

5. Tesla: Taking profits or misjudging?

In 2021, Tesla purchased 46,000 bitcoins for 1.5 billion dollars, shocking the market. Musk himself once shouted the slogan 'support Bitcoin'.

But by 2022, under macro pressure, Tesla sold 75% of its bitcoin assets, citing 'to enhance cash flow stability'. At that time, the market interpreted this as a 'runaway signal', and bitcoin promptly dropped.

Tesla did not incur losses, but if they had continued to hold, this portion of bitcoin would now be worth over 5 billion dollars.

This time, Musk chose a 'conservative and pragmatic' approach, but also drifted further away from the 'crypto future'.

6. Other sellers.

Many miners from 2010-2012 liquidated all their holdings when BTC reached $10 or $100.

Reddit classic post: "I sold 10,000 bitcoins for a used Honda Civic, and I'm still driving that car..."

7. It's not just assets that are sold off.

Looking at these 'sell-off stories', we will find a common point:

The country worries about risks and misses the future.

Companies worry about regulation and miss out on value.

Individuals worry about volatility and miss their faith.

In the world of Bitcoin, the real difficulty has never been buying in, but holding on.

You can liquidate due to volatility or choose to exit due to the system, but you must understand: Bitcoin will not wait for you; it only opens a door for those who traverse cycles and believe in long-term value.

This is the cruel fairness of Bitcoin—it only rewards those who truly believe in it.