The USMS Marshals service reported that the American authorities own only 28,988 bitcoins instead of the declared 200,000 VTS. The information was provided in response to a request under the Law on Freedom of Information (Foia), an independent journalist Lola L33TZ said.

According to the USMS document, to which Reference The journalist, now on the balance of the state is 28,988,35643016 BTC, which is equivalent to approximately $ 3.44 billion at the current rate of the first cryptocurrency.

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For the first time, an estimate of 200,000 BTC (about $ 24 billion) appeared a year and a half ago with reference to the report of the Cryptopom of 21.co, which analyzed public documents related to large confiscations of bitcoins in the United States. According to published On October 16, 2023, the US authorities are disposed of approximately 194,188 BTC, which at that time was estimated at $ 5.3 billion. These are assets seized on the affairs of the Silk Road darknet (69 369 BTC in November 2020), Bitfinex hacking (94,643 BTC in January 2022) and O O ON James Zhong (51 325 BTC in March 2022).

Later Analytics Arkham Intelligence Confirmed A rating close to 200,000 BTC, based on an analysis of addresses related to US government wallets. According to analysts, bitcoins accounted for about 1.6% of the total state reserves of the United States.

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In March 2025, the White House Advisor to Cryptocurrencies and Artificial Intelligence David Sacks declaredthat the US authorities own approximately 200,000 BTC (about $ 17.6 billion), but clarified that the full audit of the Bitcoin reserve was never carried out.

Analyst Galaxy Research Alex Thorn suggested that the difference in expert and actual assessments of the number of bitcoins belonging to the United States may be explained by the fact that a significant part of the seized digital assets does not belong to the state, since it is under arrest and should be returned to the injured people.

Of the alleged 198,000 BTC, about 112,000 VTS should be returned to Bitfinex customers by court decision, explained Alex Thorn. In accordance with the current legislation, the Marshals Service regularly conducts auctions for the sale of seized cryptocurrencies to compensate for damage to crypto -investors, which also reduces the actual volume of bitcoins reserves on the state’s balance sheet, the analyst said.

The last auction took place at the beginning of this year, when the California County Court confirmed the decision of the Supreme Court and approved the US Marshals service 69,370 BTC, previously confiscated from the Silk Road darknet.