UK Chancellor Eyes $7.2B Bitcoin Windfall to Rescue National Budget—Crypto to the Rescue?
Britain’s treasury might just pull off the ultimate HODL flip. Facing a fiscal crunch, the UK government is reportedly weighing the sale of its $7.2 billion Bitcoin trove—seized from criminals and tax dodgers—to patch up its balance sheet.
### From Silk Road to Sovereign Coffers
The stash, accumulated over years of high-profile seizures, has ballooned in value alongside Bitcoin’s bull run. Now, with austerity measures looming, officials are debating whether to cash out at what could be a market top—or gamble on further gains.
### A High-Stakes Game of Chicken With the Market
Dumping $7.2B worth of BTC would test market liquidity and could trigger volatility. But for a government that once mocked crypto as a ‘plaything for criminals,’ the irony of relying on it to fund public services is… chef’s kiss.
### The Punchline
Nothing fixes a deficit like selling the people’s Bitcoin at a profit—right before the next halving. Classic Treasury move: buy high, sell… never, until you’re desperate.
Bitcoin reserves around the world
In the U.S., President Donald Trump signed an executive order in March calling for the creation of a national crypto stockpile based around seized digital assets, while various moves towards strategic bitcoin reserves have been made in Bhutan, Pakistan, Sweden and the Czech Republic.
In the UK, the leader of the right-wing Reform Party, Nigel Farage, has declared that his party would require the Bank of England to set up a Bitcoin reserve in the event of a Reform-led government.
While the current UK Government has previously poured cold water on the idea of a national Bitcoin reserve, plans being discussed by the Home Office (the UK interior ministry) would involve the establishment of an official storage system for cryptocurrencies.
This system would process sales of Bitcoin (or any other tokens held by the government), although it’s not currently clear what percentage of any proceeds would go to HM Treasury.
There’s also the issue that the UK Government’s Bitcoin holdings come almost entirely from the 2021 seizure of just over 61,000 BTC, which was defrauded from mostly Chinese investors in a Ponzi scheme.
The victims of the fraud have asked Chinese authorities to make diplomatic efforts to have the Bitcoin returned to them, raising questions of whether the UK Government will be legally able to sell its holdings.