UK's seized Bitcoin stash could get sold off to ease budget deficits
Rachel Reeves is weighing the sale of billions in seized Bitcoin to help plug a growing hole in the UK's public finances, according to The Telegraph.
The Home Office is reportedly working to build a centralised crypto storage and liquidation system to facilitate the sale.
One stash alone — 61,000 Bitcoin seized in a 2018 money laundering case — is now worth more than £5 billion after Bitcoin shot to new all-time highs above $123,000 last week.
Reeves is facing pressure to find as much as £20 billion in her autumn budget as weak growth and high borrowing costs weigh on the economy.
Former Chancellor Norman Lamont has urged the government to 'spend it right away,' while Reform UK's Nigel Farage has proposed the opposite: holding Bitcoin as a sovereign reserve, echoing Donald Trump's policy in the US.
But even the US government's Bitcoin reserve plan has had a murky rollout. Although Trump ordered the creation of a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve earlier this year, the exact amount held remains unclear.
Senator Cynthia Lummis recently expressed alarm over reports that the US Marshals Service controls just 29,000 Bitcoin, a fraction of the 200,000 previously estimated.
Analysts say the discrepancy likely stems from large amounts of seized Bitcoin that have yet to be legally forfeited or are still in limbo between agencies, making them ineligible for inclusion in the reserve.
Germany, by contrast, sold 50,000 Bitcoin last year for just over $3 billion — an amount now worth more than double.
Kyle Baird is DL News' Weekend Editor. Got a tip? Email atkbaird@dlnews.com.
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