Original Article Title: "US Bitcoin Reserve Only 90,000 Coins? Analysis: 108,000 BTC To Be Returned to Bitfinex Victims"

Original Article Author: Ting, BlockTempo of ChainNews

United States President Trump this morning (7th) officially signed an executive order to establish a Bitcoin Strategic Reserve and Digital Asset Reserve, with sources coming from Bitcoin confiscated by the federal government through criminal or civil proceedings, causing widespread market attention.

According to Arkham statistics, the United States currently holds 198,109 BTC, valued at approximately $17.6 billion.

US Reserve Has Only 90,000 Bitcoins, Not 200,000

However, regarding the exact amount of Bitcoin reserves, investment management giant Galaxy Digital's Research Director, Alex Thorn, tweeted that the United States currently has a maximum of only 86,000 BTC available for asset reserves, with the remaining approximately 112,000 BTC to be returned to the hacked exchange Bitfinex:

We believe that the maximum amount of Bitcoin the US government can redeploy as reserves is 88,000 BTC (corrected to 86,000 by myself), accounting for only 43% of its total holdings. This is because out of the approximately 198,000 BTC currently held by the US government, 112,000 BTC will be returned to Bitfinex.

Alex Thorn's argument is roughly correct, but the numbers have a slight discrepancy. Currently, the US government has only recovered 108,068 BTC from the Bitfinex hacker case, which differs slightly from the mentioned 112,000. In addition, the exact number of Bitcoins held by the US government is 198,109, deducting the 108,068 BTC to be returned to Bitfinex, leaving a maximum of 90,041 BTC that could be allocated to reserves.

According to the executive order signed by Trump, agency heads are not allowed to sell or dispose of government digital assets, but there are exceptions, such as when the Attorney General or other relevant agency heads determine that assets or funds should be returned to crime victims or used for law enforcement actions.

As for when these 108,000 BTC will be returned to Bitfinex, the US government did not mention in its January statement, but the US government believes that this batch of seized Bitcoin should be returned to Bitfinex as physical compensation.

Coinbase CEO: Expect G20 Countries to Follow Suit

On the other hand, following Trump's signing of the Bitcoin Strategic Asset Reserve executive order, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong promptly tweeted that he expects the G20 countries (the Group of Twenty major economies) to all follow the U.S.'s "Bitcoin Asset Reserve" plan:

The execution capability of the Trump administration is astonishing; this is a historic moment for Bitcoin and cryptocurrency.

I expect many G20 countries to take note of the (Bitcoin Strategic Reserve) and eventually follow the U.S.'s lead.

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