The curious case of Bulgaria’s alleged hoard of 200,000 bitcoins resurfaced once more this week as sources claimed the Balkan nation was HODLing cryptocurrency.
Report: Bulgaria Bought All Its BTC
Seemingly referencing a press launch from Might 2017, TrustNodes led the renewed media curiosity in a narrative about how Bulgarian authorities confiscated the BTC after taking down an unknown legal operation.
In accordance with the press launch, which got here from the Southeast European Regulation Enforcement Heart, the operation targeted on an “organized legal group” together with residents from a number of nations.
The federal government seized numerous belongings, together with the bitcoin, with the varied media publications now claiming Sofia held on to them and will now be essentially the most Bitcoin-wealthy authorities on this planet.
In accordance with Bulgarian media retailers, nevertheless, no such BTC reserves exist.
Particularly, native information publication Bivol wrote in April 2018, the federal government auctioned off its haul in a low-key affair which concerned numerous worldwide consumers.
The sale occurred a matter of months after the crackdown, as Bitcoin value [coin_price] reached its all-time excessive of round $20,000 in December 2017.
The publication claims that Bulgaria’s finance minister, Vladislav Goranov, advised the Prime Minister’s Safety Council the sale had taken place, and that the cash have been offered piecemeal in order to not crash the market.
“A number of sovereign wealth funds and Asian traders” bought the cash for round €15,000 every, with Deloitte performing as a marketing consultant, Bivol references Goranov as revealing.
Much more curiously, “specialists from the US FBI helped to make sure the protection of transactions,” the final of which occurred April 1, 2018, Goranov is reported to have stated.
Governments Don’t Like HODLing
As Bitcoinist reported, conspiracies about governments and central banks amassing bitcoin proceed to pervade the group.
Most lately, studies from a Kremlin economist surfaced that Russia had purchased up BTC price virtually $9 billion by way of oligarchs and companies.
On the similar time, Venezuela’s administration continues to publicize its doubtful state-backed cryptocurrency, Petro, whereas remaining quiet on its relationship to decentralized cryptocurrencies akin to bitcoin.
Over time, nevertheless, governments have set a development for divesting themselves of cryptocurrency holdings, with the US holding its personal auctions in 2014 and 2018 which noticed cash change arms for as little as $630.
Among the many beneficiaries from the Silk Highway sell-off was notoriously bullish VC investor Tim Draper, who has since seen the worth of his HODLed cash increase virtually 14 occasions over.
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