The UK could sell its 61,000 Bitcoins to raise money to improve economic conditions. 
This Bitcoin is said to be the proceeds of a financial fraud committed by a Chinese national and seized by the UK authorities. 

The fate of the crypto market could temporarily be in the hands of the United Kingdom as Chancellor Rachel Reeves reportedly considers the selling of Bitcoins (BTC) worth over £5 billion ($6.7 billion).

According to the news reported by the Daily Telegraph, this has become necessary as the government needs to raise £20 billion ($26.8 billion) this Autumn to build some fiscal headroom and recover an existing shortfall.

UK’s Budget Blackhole and the 61,000 BTC

The United Kingdom has recently been confronted by some “stubborn inflation figures” which have threatened to raise the cost of borrowing by keeping interest rates high, as outlined in our recent blog post. According to the Office for National Statistics, the country’s Consumer Price Index as of June 2025 stood at 4.1%, up from the 4.0% recorded in May.

Amidst the backdrop of this, UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has also indicated that he will take another look at the fuel policy to ensure that more pensioners qualify for payments. Meanwhile, the chairman of the Office for Budget Responsibility, Richard Hughes has clarified that higher taxes would still not even be enough to mitigate the potential debt crisis.

On this, the chief executive of seizure company Asset Reality, Aidan Larkin, believes the country could simply explore the crypto avenue to raise money for the course. Already, the UK has introduced legislation to seize illicit crypto funds, as reviewed in our recent publication.

There is oil under our feet in terms of digital assets, from an illicit perspective, that could have hundreds of millions of pounds coming back into the UK each year.

To make an initial step towards the £20 billion target, the Home Office is developing a “crypto storage and realization framework” to manage and liquidate its BTC holdings. While the official amount owned by the country is not yet known, the UK has been cited by multiple sources to possess 61,000 BTC obtained from a single raid in 2018.

Per our research, this amount was found in four devices stored inside a safety deposit box in a property owned by Jian Wen and her employer, Yadi Zhang, who was accused of Bitcoin laundering at that time.

According to the official document, Zhang, whose official name is Zhimin Qian, was involved in financial fraud in China between 2014 and 2017. Zhang reportedly stole billions of pounds from 128,000 investors and converted some into Bitcoin before moving to London in 2017. At the time of the seizure, the Bitcoins were worth £1.4bn. Fascinatingly, the value has more than tripled at the current rate.

As indicated in our earlier discussion, the potential sales of seized Bitcoin were first predicted by accounting giant RSM after highlighting the need for the UK to improve its economic conditions.

Potential Bitcoin Market Liquidation and Previous Approach by Other Countries

History has also not been kind to government-led crypto sales. The aftermath of the German crypto sale, for instance, saw total liquidation rise beyond $665 million. However, the market bounced back within a short time.

Contrary to the UK’s expected approach, countries like Russia have decided to convert their seized Bitcoins into state revenue, as detailed in our earlier coverage. The US has also confirmed that it would use Bitcoin owned by the Treasury Department and forfeited as part of the criminal or civil asset forfeiture proceedings for its strategic Bitcoin reserve, as also mentioned in our previous news brief.

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Filed under: Bitcoin - @ July 21, 2025 10:26 am