The United States has filed a civil complaint to forfeit $2.4 million in Bitcoin seized by the FBI in Dallas, potentially contributing to the proposed U.S. Strategic Bitcoin Reserve.
Filed on Thursday in the Northern District of Texas, the complaint seeks the forfeiture of 20.2 Bitcoin linked to an address allegedly associated with a member of the Chaos hacker group, which has been connected to multiple ransomware attacks, according to a statement from the Texas U.S. Attorney’s Office on Monday.
The Dallas FBI carried out the seizure on April 15, asserting the cryptocurrency was derived from “unlawful activity” tied to ransomware operations.
If the court approves the forfeiture, the Bitcoin would be added to the U.S. Bitcoin reserve, a strategic fund established under President Donald Trump’s March 6 executive order, which called for accumulating seized digital assets through criminal and civil asset forfeiture.
Questions Arise Over U.S. Government’s Bitcoin Holdings
Estimates from Nansen, Arkham, and BitcoinTreasuries.NET suggest the U.S. government holds around 198,012 Bitcoin, accumulated through numerous seizures over the years. However, a recent freedom of information (FOI) request by an independent journalist has cast doubt on that figure.
On July 16, journalist L0la L33tz, who posts on X under that handle, revealed they had received a response from the Department of Justice to an FOI request filed in March. According to the response, the United States Marshals Service (USMS) currently holds just over 28,988 Bitcoin.
In a follow-up post, L0la L33tz noted that the disclosed figure likely doesn’t include Bitcoin held by other seizing agencies such as the DEA or FBI, suggesting that additional assets may be in custody outside the USMS.
Blockchain analytics firm Arkham echoed these concerns on July 23, noting that “other departments of the U.S. government also seize and hold Bitcoin, including the FBI, DOJ, DEA, and U.S. Attorney’s Offices.”
Arkham stated that the U.S. government has not sold any of its Bitcoin holdings
Arkham maintains that its data indicates the U.S. government holds at least 198,000 Bitcoin across various addresses controlled by different federal agencies, with none of the funds having moved in the past four months.
L0la L33tz, however, pointed out that some Bitcoin trackers “don’t seem to differentiate between seized and forfeited coins,” noting that in many cases, the legal status of the assets remains unresolved.
“To the geniuses linking Arkham’s government wallet tracker: these don’t appear to be BTC that have officially become government property—at least not entirely—which means they can’t be sold,” L0la L33tz said.
US States are following suit
According to Bitcoin Laws, at least 30 U.S. states have introduced legislation to establish a Bitcoin strategic reserve. However, as of July 29, only Arizona, Texas, and New Hampshire have successfully passed such laws.
Dozens of similar proposals have been rejected, failing to advance beyond the initial committee stage.
