What's in the US Government's New Strategic Reserve of Seized Crytocurrencies? (yahoo.com) 53
In March an executive order directed America's treasury secretary to create two stockpiles of crypto assets (to accompany already-existing "strategic reserves"of gold and foreign currencies). And the Washington Post notes these new stockpiles would include "cryptocurrency seized by federal agencies in criminal or civil proceedings." But how big would America's "Strategic Bitcoin Reserve" be — and what other cryptocurrencies would the U.S. government hold in its "Digital Asset Stockpile"?
"New data on what crypto cash the U.S. government has seized may now provide some answers. It suggests the crypto reserves will together hold more than $21 billion in cryptocurrency... The stockpile will be funded with whatever crypto assets the Treasury holds other than bitcoin, leaving the stockpile's composition to be largely determined by a mixture of chance and criminal conduct. That unconventional method for selecting government financial holdings had the benefit of making the reserves cost-neutral for the taxpayer.
It also provided a way to estimate what exactly might go into the two pools before results are released from an official accounting of U.S. crypto holdings that is underway.Because government seizures are disclosed in court documents, news releases and other sources, crypto-tracking firms can use those notices to monitor which digital assets the U.S. government holds. Chainalysis, a blockchain analytics firm, reviewed cryptocurrency wallets that appear to be associated with the U.S. government for The Washington Post. The company estimated how much bitcoin it holds, and the other crypto tokens in its top 20 digital holdings as of May 13, by tracking transactions involving those wallets.
The United States' top 20 crypto holdings according to Chainalysis are worth about $20.9 billion as of 3 p.m. Eastern on May 28, with $20.4 billion in bitcoin and about $493 million in other digital assets. It has been scooped up from crimes such as stolen funds, scams and sales on dark net markets. Those estimates put the U.S. government's top crypto holdings at less than the approximately $25 billion worth of oil held in the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve. Their value is nearly double the Fed's listing for U.S. gold holdings, although that figure uses outdated pricing and would be over $850 billion at current prices...
The crypto tokens headed for the U.S. Digital Asset Stockpile according to the Chainalysis list include ethereum, the world's second-largest digital asset, and a string of other crypto tokens with punier name recognition. They include derivatives of bitcoin and ethereum that mirror those cryptocurrencies' prices, several stable coins designed to be pegged in value to the U.S. dollar, and 10 tokens tied to specific companies, including the cryptocurrency exchanges FTX, which imploded in 2022 after defrauding customers, and Binance.
Two U.S. states have already passed legislation creating their own cryptocurrency reserve funds, the article points out. But ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin complained to the Post in March that crypto's "original spirit...is about counterbalancing power" — including government and corporate power, and getting too close to "one particular government team" could conflict with its mission of decentralization and openness. And he's not the only one concerned: Austin Campbell, a professor at New York University's business school and a principal at crypto advisory firm Zero Knowledge, sees hypocrisy in crypto enthusiasts cheering the government's strategic reserves. The bitcoin community in particular "has historically been about freedom from sovereign interference," he said.
"New data on what crypto cash the U.S. government has seized may now provide some answers. It suggests the crypto reserves will together hold more than $21 billion in cryptocurrency... The stockpile will be funded with whatever crypto assets the Treasury holds other than bitcoin, leaving the stockpile's composition to be largely determined by a mixture of chance and criminal conduct. That unconventional method for selecting government financial holdings had the benefit of making the reserves cost-neutral for the taxpayer.
It also provided a way to estimate what exactly might go into the two pools before results are released from an official accounting of U.S. crypto holdings that is underway.Because government seizures are disclosed in court documents, news releases and other sources, crypto-tracking firms can use those notices to monitor which digital assets the U.S. government holds. Chainalysis, a blockchain analytics firm, reviewed cryptocurrency wallets that appear to be associated with the U.S. government for The Washington Post. The company estimated how much bitcoin it holds, and the other crypto tokens in its top 20 digital holdings as of May 13, by tracking transactions involving those wallets.
The United States' top 20 crypto holdings according to Chainalysis are worth about $20.9 billion as of 3 p.m. Eastern on May 28, with $20.4 billion in bitcoin and about $493 million in other digital assets. It has been scooped up from crimes such as stolen funds, scams and sales on dark net markets. Those estimates put the U.S. government's top crypto holdings at less than the approximately $25 billion worth of oil held in the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve. Their value is nearly double the Fed's listing for U.S. gold holdings, although that figure uses outdated pricing and would be over $850 billion at current prices...
The crypto tokens headed for the U.S. Digital Asset Stockpile according to the Chainalysis list include ethereum, the world's second-largest digital asset, and a string of other crypto tokens with punier name recognition. They include derivatives of bitcoin and ethereum that mirror those cryptocurrencies' prices, several stable coins designed to be pegged in value to the U.S. dollar, and 10 tokens tied to specific companies, including the cryptocurrency exchanges FTX, which imploded in 2022 after defrauding customers, and Binance.
Two U.S. states have already passed legislation creating their own cryptocurrency reserve funds, the article points out. But ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin complained to the Post in March that crypto's "original spirit...is about counterbalancing power" — including government and corporate power, and getting too close to "one particular government team" could conflict with its mission of decentralization and openness. And he's not the only one concerned: Austin Campbell, a professor at New York University's business school and a principal at crypto advisory firm Zero Knowledge, sees hypocrisy in crypto enthusiasts cheering the government's strategic reserves. The bitcoin community in particular "has historically been about freedom from sovereign interference," he said.
LOL the Strategic Electron Reserve (Score:3)
LOL the Strategic Electron Reserve will no doubt be plundered or rug-pulled or whatever the new crypto-based scam is these days.
Re: (Score:3)
Don't be surprised if $TRUMP and $MELANIA end up in there too - they seem to (rightfully) be pretty confident that no one is going to call them on their various grifts, no matter how egregious.
Re:LOL the Strategic Electron Reserve (Score:4, Insightful)
Don't be surprised if $TRUMP and $MELANIA end up in there too - they seem to (rightfully) be pretty confident that no one is going to call them on their various grifts, no matter how egregious.
Yep, I'd bet anything that they'll be in there along with loads of other horseshit coins. Balancing our national wealth on this made-to-be-scammed financial 'instrument' is utter madness. When the country goes bankrupt we'll know exactly why.
But, and I'd bet money on this too, when it does go bust, somehow FOX and Trump will blame Biden or wokeness or DEI or immigrants, etc etc etc.
Re: (Score:1)
I prefer to think of it as the Anti-Stratigic Silly Hole [wikipedia.org] Reserve.
Re: (Score:1)
If a high-target suspect even smelled like they had bitcoin
I think you meant "they had anything of value at all" - bitcoin, dollars, real estate, car, baseball bat, television, food in the pantry, etc.
OK I exaggerated a bit, but if you were a high-target suspect and you had assests that were "atypical" for the "public, non-lawbreaking" life you actually were living - or for actually guilty people, were prestending to live - it was assumed to be "dirty" and likely siezed unless/until you could demonstrate it was "clean" or you managed to get an intimidating lawyer o
government rug pull (Score:1)
1. Sell the Trump coins
2. Seize the Trump coins
3. Profit
Counterbalancing power (Score:4, Insightful)
I really can't believe that, for a small subset of people maybe this was genuine but really the millisecond moment when Bitcoin became tradable for USD and people would pay more in USD and thus it becomes a tradeable market then any claims to counterbalancing power went out the windows besides of "I'll use my windfall of profits in state issued fiat currency to that goal".
You can be a stable alternative currency or you can be a speculative asset you cannot be both and it's clear which one the crypto buyers support it being, look how quickly it's become "please big daddy government, please buy our bags"
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:1)
Give me a good reason someone will sell crypto for less than they paid for it?
What you paid for an investment is rarely a factor in whether to sell it or not (unless it's going to impact your taxes or something else "external" to the transaction).
What does matter is: Does it make more sense to hold onto what I have or to trade it for something else.
If I think what I have will go down relative to the dollar, I will sell it for dollars.
Even if I think it will go up relative to the dollar, if there is something else I think will go up relative to the crypto I have (either another crypt
Re: (Score:2)
What you paid for an investment is rarely a factor in whether to sell it or not (unless it's going to impact your taxes or something else "external" to the transaction).
The only reason to buy crypto is that you think it will go up eventually. I am not sure I would call buying crypto an investment. Its a gamble where if you lose, you can wait and hope to be a winner later. Its not that there will never be people who sell at a loss, its just not going to be enough to have much impact on the market price.
Investments have underlying factors that can affect their price. Their objective value can change. Crypto is a pure gamble and there isn't much reason to fold.
Another reason to buy crypto: spend it (Score:1)
The only reason to buy crypto is that you think it will go up eventually
The only reason I can see myself buying crypto is if I plan on spending it immediately.
If I want to buy something and the seller only accepts crypto, or he only accepts crypto or some currency that's even less convenient for me to buy than crypto, I'll buy the crypto then spend it immediately.
Here's a scenario that doesn't involve buying anything shady (that is, anything I would be embarrassed about if my mother found out about it): I want to buy some vintage computer part but the only guy who has it is so
Re: (Score:2)
The only reason I can see myself buying crypto is if I plan on spending it immediately.
That is a "wash" transaction. You don't care what the bitcoin costs and neither does the person you are buying from. You are going to buy the bitcoins whose total value matches the price set in the sellers local currency whether that is one bitcoin or a thousand. Those transactions have (almost) no impact on the market price.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: Counterbalancing power (Score:3)
There really is no need to.
Re: (Score:2)
Well of course. You don't make any money with a stable alternative currency. Bitcoin is run by the miners. No surprise at all that they're in it to make money.
Re: (Score:1)
you literally just described gold. It is both speculative and an alternative currency.
yes yes, I await your screed describing the minute utility value that it has, which is entirely divorced from it's market value, because again, it's a speculative asset.
Re: (Score:2)
Yes, we used to have way more bank runs and longer depressions when gold was our currency, for those very reasons.
Re: (Score:2)
I said "more" not "none today". Plus those bank runs today in fact did not cause any long running depressions because we can respond in ways that having a fixed value asset does not allow, welcome to Central Banking.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]
"Stable" is a construct in your mind
Yes, just like "money" is a construct in our social collective, it is a delusion that we consider it has "worth"
deflationary asset
Yes, we have learned unchecked deflation is a bad thing.
but that doesn't mean alternatives are stupid
I didn't say that either but the alternative has to offer advantages, not just simply exist a
Re: (Score:1)
Hearing echos from /. AC post of 2022 (Score:2)
The grand master plan of crypto (Score:5, Insightful)
by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 08, 2022 @04:03PM (#62250771)
Nearly identical text.
Hearing echos from /. AC post of 2022 retry (Score:1)
Let's try that again, with the link this time:
The grand master plan of crypto (Score:5, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 08, 2022 @04:03PM (#62250771) [slashdot.org]
Nearly identical text.
Made more sense when they sold seized BTC (Score:2)
Re:Made more sense when they sold seized BTC (Score:4, Interesting)
Use for pump and dump of course. Trump loves his insider trading when he gets to call it.
Re:Made more sense when they sold seized BTC (Score:4, Insightful)
Plus, given we're talking about the US economy - $21 billion is basically nothing.
Re: (Score:2)
When the original claim was they'd save 2 trillion? Yeah, 21 billion is still nothing.
(and let's see if they have to revise their supposed "savings" down even further)
Re: (Score:2)
Plus, given we're talking about the US economy - $21 billion is basically nothing.
True, but if you deleted every town, city, and county that is individually worth less than $21 billion, then most of America would be deleted.
Hm. Very odd.
Re: (Score:2)
Plus, given we're talking about the US economy - $21 billion is basically nothing.
As President Obama said during his cost cutting. No savings of taxpayer money is too small.
Re: (Score:1)
Does the US Gov buy a lot of stuff on the "dark web"?
At the risk of pointing out the obvious:
I doubt it's "a lot" but I'm sure the FBI and other law-enforcement agencies do a little buying as part of their takedown operations.
"Cops buying illegal things on the dark web" is today's version of "cops trading briefcases of cash in a dark alley for drugs" or "cops buying overpriced beer at a mobbed-up bar to 'pay' for illegal goods or services" decades ago.
Re: (Score:2)
It made more sense when they sold seized BTC. Like they did with BTC-e. What could this "strategic reserved" be used for? Does the US Gov buy a lot of stuff on the "dark web"? Handy bitcoins for when ransomwared?
You're seriously wondering what the United States of Capitalism would do with a metric fuckton of $hitcoin that's been rising far faster in value than that boomerbill fiat crap?
That's a metric fuckton of leverage. A bank president would loan out their own soul if they can get 15% APR on it.
No one liquidates their real estate to borrow and spend money against it. What else are you gonna do with a "coin" worth $100K? We got rid of bank notes above $100 in general circulation decades ago due to crime. I'm
Bitcoin is largely greater fool theory based ... (Score:2)
You're seriously wondering what the United States of Capitalism would do with a metric fuckton of $hitcoin that's been rising far faster in value than that boomerbill fiat crap?
Bitcoin has zero intrinsic value. Bitcoin mining has no salvage value behind selling miner heat sinks as scrap metal.
You omitted the fairly consistent 75% drops in value after big runs up.
Bitcoin has near zero use in commerce. While some goods and services are theoretically "sold" using bitcoin, in reality the seller does all their pricing and accounting in fiat currency, hands off the buyer to a bitcoin payment processor who determines the current bitcoin priced based on the stated fiat price, collec
Sounds Stupid (Score:2)
It sounds stupid. It also sounds like chump change against a $100? trillion GDP.
Re: (Score:1)
Um... (Score:2)
What's in the US Government's New Strategic Reserve of Seized Crytocurrencies?
I'm going to guess... crytocurrencies? :-)
"What's in the Reserve of Seized Crytocurrencies"? (Score:2)
A new form of funds that is so off-the-books it's beyond Oliver North's and Reagan's [wikipedia.org] wildest wet dreams.
OT: Forfeited assets and fines should be destroyed (Score:1)
Forfieted assets and fines should either be destroyed/"burned"/taken out of circulation permanently, or if there's a reason not to destroy the actual asset (it's something that's actually useful or of historic value, for example), sell it at market price then "burn" the proceeds of the sale.
This is espeically true of things like "speed traps" where the obstensible motive is to improve public safety or make sure everyone is obeying the law, but the actual motive is to enrich the (usually local, for speed tra
Trump is involved. So there's bound to be a scam.. (Score:5, Interesting)
Call me a cynic - and you'd be right....
Next week (or tomorrow by the speed thing change over there) I fully expect Trump to announce that the US governement has "invested" billions in Trump's own cryptocoin. Thereby accidentally giving Trump a lot of money, and making the white house spokesperson come up with some other lie.
Isn't that how he normally operates?
Re: (Score:3)
I'm wondering how long before he strong-arms the financial institutions into loading up everyone's 401k with Trumpcoin. Or worse, they actually try to hide the corruption and route it through something without his name on it.
What would be the best way to move the balance of a 401(k) into something Trump-proof, which will at least keep up with inflation?
Re: (Score:1)
I'm wondering how long before he strong-arms the financial institutions into loading up everyone's 401k with Trumpcoin
If by "loading up" you mean forcing people to invest in $TRUMP, I don't think he'd dare, too many of his constituents would revolt. If he did dare, the revolt would lead to another TACO-like flip-flop.
But if you mean "allowing $TRUMP to be 'part of a balanced 401(k) breakfast'(TM)" followed by "highly encouraging people to sign up for $TRUMP in their retirement accounts" yeah, the first part's already starting (easing or reversing rules against crypto in retirement accounts) and the second probably isn't f
Id like to see Trump (Score:3)