The US Marshal’s Service holds at the least $1.6 billion in bitcoin (BTC), in response to paperwork obtained by way of a freedom of data request filed by pseudonymous journalist L0la L33tz.
The Rage reporter first shared her findings on X and has since revealed to Protos the complete BTC holdings of the company’s forfeiture division.
Numerous facets of the holdings have been redacted from the report, together with the case quantity, custody receipt and date, asset ID, and the quantity of the BTC in query.
Nonetheless, the doc does embody an unredacted quantity, which can suggest that the company holds roughly 28,988 BTC.
This might imply that the company is valuing the cash it holds at a median worth of $56,000, and suggests the full stash may very well be value roughly $3.4 billion.
Blockchain intelligence companies like Arkham declare the US authorities holds over 198,000 BTC (value $23.6 billion), which is considerably greater than the paperwork recommend. Nonetheless, L33tz’s FOIA request utilized solely to forfeited funds.
Earlier this 12 months, President Donald Trump signed an government order that required all federal authorities businesses to audit their crypto holdings by April 5 and ship the outcomes to the US Secretary of the Treasury, Scott Bessent.
Nonetheless, no such report has been launched publicly.
The US Marshals Service is liable for arresting fugitives, in addition to holding maintain of any seized and forfeited felony property, and can probably be one of many federal businesses with essentially the most crypto.
A supply conversant in the matter advised CoinDesk in February that the company is unaware of how a lot crypto it holds and is even struggling to estimate its BTC holdings.
L33tz’s findings may additionally bag her $10,000 from David Bailey, the founding father of the Nakamoto Bitcoin treasury firm, who mentioned he would ship anybody the sum in the event that they uncovered the Marshals Service’s holdings of BTC and crypto.
