The Curious Case of Bulgarian Government Holding Bitcoin

By Prashant Jha

The Bulgarian government was speculated to confiscate around 20,000 BTC during 2017 operation against various criminal operations. It was reported back then that the government in an organized raid on criminal groups seized a number of assets including Bitcoin.

A number of media outlets reported that the government held on to the sophisticated Bitcoins instead of selling it, which makes them the wealthiest Bitcoin government in the world. However, as per the reports in Bulgarian media outlets, there is no such Bitcoin reserve.

A local Bulgarian news outlet Bivol reported that the government auctioned off the seized Bitcoin in a low-key affair which included a number of international buyers. The media outlet also claims that the auction occurred a few months after the crackdown when Bitcoin was trading at around $7994.76.

The publication also claims that the Finance Minister of the state, Vladislav Goranov informed the Prime Minister’s Security Council about the sale, and the auction was conducted in different stages to ensure that the sale does not impact the crypto market. Bivol also used the statements of the Finance Minister as a reference for the report.

The publication further claims that the seized Bitcoins were mostly bought by “sovereign wealth funds and Asian investors”, who bought the coin for €15,000 each. The publication also claims that the government was helped by the FBI in ensuring safe transactions.

Conspiracy About Governments and Central Banks Amassing Bitcoin On The Rise

The curious case of the Bulgarian government holding onto the seized Bitcoin is not first of its kind. Recently, a report published by Kremlin economist suggests that the Russian government has bought Bitcoin worth $9 billion via oligarchs and businesses.

Similarly Venezuela the economically devasted nation has been promoting its national cryptocurrencies for quite some time now, without revealing much on their stance over Bitcoin. However, the country has seen a spike in the use of Bitcoin, owing to the valueless national fiat.

Apart from the curious case of Bulgaria and Russia, most of the other nations have kept a safe distance from Bitcoin holdings. The United States of America has conducted two auctions one in 2014, and 2018 to sell off the seized Bitcoins.

Prashant Jha

As a content writer Prashant believes in presenting complex topics in simple laymen terms. He is a tech enthusiast and an avid reader.

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