The United States government is sitting on one of the largest sovereign bitcoin positions in the world, and it has just watched more than $15 billion evaporate from that position without selling a single coin. The loss is a pure function of price: bitcoin has shed roughly one third of its value since the holdings peaked, and under current policy Washington cannot do anything about it.
The exposure traces back to an executive order signed by Donald Trump on March 6, 2025, which created a strategic bitcoin reserve and explicitly barred the resale of confiscated BTC. Other seized crypto assets, tracked separately under what the order calls the Digital Asset Stockpile, remain sellable. Bitcoin does not. The order also permits acquisition strategies at no cost to taxpayers, but allocates no funds for outright purchases, meaning the reserve grows only through forfeiture, not acquisition.
According to Arkham Intelligence, which tracks addresses linked to federal agencies, the government held approximately 325,000 BTC in early October 2025, a position worth around $40.7 billion when bitcoin touched its all-time high of $126,000. A year later, with bitcoin trading around $83,000, that same stash is worth approximately $25.5 billion. The US Marshals Service alone was attributed 28,988 BTC under a March 2025 freedom-of-information request. Washington also holds smaller crypto positions, including $126 million in USDT, $63 million in WBTC and $31 million in BNB.
Transfers without sales
On October 8, federal addresses moved 12,267 BTC, worth about $1.01 billion, out of a wallet linked to the Bitfinex hack. No exchange deposit followed. The day before, Coinbase Prime had received a separate transfer of 3,200 BTC and $119 million in USDT. After these movements, the government's holdings stood at 306,800 BTC, approximately 1.5% of circulating supply.
The current freeze on sales stands in sharp contrast to past practice. Before 2025, the United States sold roughly 195,000 BTC through judicial procedures, generating only $366 million in total revenue. In March 2025, when bitcoin traded near $89,000, White House crypto adviser David Sacks estimated the lost revenue from those earlier sales at more than $17 billion. At the October 12 price, that same quantity of coins would be worth approximately $16.2 billion.
A growing pipeline
The reserve continues to expand through confiscation rather than purchase. On October 14, 2025, US prosecutors opened confiscation proceedings against the boss of the Prince Group over 127,271 BTC. The individual was arrested in Cambodia in January 2026. At the October 12, 2026 price, that seizure alone would be worth more than $10 billion, underscoring how much of Washington's bitcoin position now depends on the outcome of criminal cases rather than market strategy.
