UK Set to Sell $7 Billion in Seized Bitcoin Assets
The United Kingdom is set to sell its bitcoin reserves to fund a budget deficit. With legal issues afoot regarding digital assets gained from criminal activity, should the UK sell now or hold?
A recent report in The Telegraph newspaper has suggested that the United Kingdom has a plan to sell bitcoin seized in criminal activities. This is generally meant to address a specific case from 2018, in which 61,000 BTC were seized from a Ponzi scheme. It is not known if the UK has further Bitcoin assets it plans to offload.
Why Sell Its Digital Assets Now?
Bitcoin is currently experiencing record highs. The BTC to USD price currently stands at $118,407. This follows a short period of stagnation, which itself came about after record highs. The foremost cryptocurrency managed to tip the $122,000 mark before a short price correction. All of this has made it both scarce and valuable, suggesting now may be a good time for the United Kingdom government to act.
This idea is being overseen by the Police and the Home Office. The concept is believed to have originated from the Treasury and Chancellor Rachel Reeves as a way to get a significant, non-taxable sum of money. Estimates suggest that she may need to find $20bn to balance the autumn budget.
A safe storage unit is also being created by the country, which will be used to store the funds and potentially any other assets it receives. It is not the first time the idea has arisen, with other newspapers reporting on it earlier in the year. This comes after changes to winter fuel allowances and welfare reforms have left a large hole in the budget, with a new one planned for autumn.
The Legal Status of Seized Funds
It is also believed that the Home Office could be giving out a sales contract worth around £40 million in commission. These proceeds are typically split between law and central government accounts. Very often, most funds go to the government when victim repayment is not possible, though this is a hotly contested matter regarding the funds.
Mainly, this comes from the legal status of the cryptocurrency. The victims of the original operation from which it was seized are seeking to reclaim their money. To make this more complicated, the funds placed into the scheme were in Chinese Yuan, with the victims lobbying the Chinese government to get the money back on their behalf. It is not known if they are requesting the return in GBP, Yuan, or bitcoin.
Should the UK Opt for a Strategic Reserve?
Aidan Larkin is the CEO of Asset Reality, a company that deals in the digital assets produced by crime and how to handle them. He likens this to a “Norway Oil Moment” and believes that these digital assets could be a huge boost to the public coffers over the next few years. With a greater focus on assets, he believes the £1.4bn seized from crime since 2019 could be doubled.
Untangling the web associated with these items would be a hard task. Court hearings are delayed, meaning any seizures would have to be held by the government for a long time. While bitcoin is currently in a golden period, it remains inherently volatile. This could mean what is worth billions today may not be tomorrow.
This has led to former ministers such as Norman Lamont saying that the bitcoin should be sold immediately. Others, however, are more inclined to tout a Strategic Reserve, as has been seen in the United States. Set up by the new US administration, it has experienced many of the problems mentioned above: Lengthy processes and volatile prices, making it hard to work out what much is about and what it is worth.
Reactions from the Crypto Markets
Sales of this size, from a financial powerhouse like the UK government, do have the potential to impact Bitcoin's price. This is something the sector will want to avoid, as it could potentially put the brakes on a further bull run.
This comes at a time when long-dormant wallets containing vast amounts of bitcoin, known as whales, have begun to open and sell off their coins. On the day bitcoin reached its record high, around 16,000 BTC were cashed in from miners. Over the last month, whales have been selling left, right and centre. One sale involved a $9.5 billion transfer that used 80,000 BTC. It had been purchased in 2011 and at the time cost $54,000. This works out to a return of 18 million percent.
Reeves will have to be careful not to repeat what was known as ‘Brown’s Bottom’. Taking place between 1999 and 2002, it saw the United Kingdom sell its gold off at low market prices. The task for Rachel Reeves, which is also one that investors must consider, will be to pinpoint if this is the high for bitcoin in the immediate future, or if further rises are on the horizon.
