#BTC

China plans to dump a chunk of its US Treasury holdings and for Bitcoin and gold to protect itself from rising global tensions, according to an interview given to CNBC by Jay Jacobs, head of thematics and equity ETFs at BlackRock.

The latest numbers show that China held $784.3 billion in US Treasuries by the end of February, based on the US Treasury Department’s data.

China’s gold pile was worth around $229.6 billion at the end of March, the Economic Times reported on April 21. On top of that, China is sitting on 194,000 BTC, valued at about $18 billion, according to Bitbo’s Bitcoin Treasuries.

Guy Cecala, executive chair at Inside Mortgage Finance, told CNBC that China has real power to shake the US markets. He said, “If China wanted to hit us hard, they could unload Treasuries. Is that a threat? Sure it is.” Cecala said Treasury securities are the foundation of US government financing, so any big sell-off would hit the system hard.

As of April 17, the 30-year fixed mortgage rate stood at 6.83%, reported by Freddie Mac. That is already squeezing many American homeowners.