The Chinese government is recognized as one of the largest bitcoin holders in the world

According to CryptoQuant, the Chinese government has not only become one of the largest bitcoin whales in the world, but also owns more BTC than MicroStrategy has on its books — the firm currently has 130,000 BTC in its assets. The head of the Korean analytical company Ki Yong-joo wrote about this on Twitter.

FUN FACT: Government of China is a crypto whale.

Chinese authorities seized 194k BTC, 833k ETH, and others from the PlusToken scam in 2019. They forfeited these $ 6 billion-worth of assets to the national treasury.

FWIW, MicroStrategy has 130k $BTC. pic.twitter.com/Ilqp7EnenL

— Ki Young Ju (@ki_young_ju) November 2, 2022

Ki Young Ju reported that China’s authoritarian apparatus had transferred 194,000 BTC confiscated through a Ponzi scheme organized by a group of investors in 2019 to the national treasury. According to court documents, back in 2020, Chinese police detained more than 100 suspects in the creation of the PlusToken cryptocurrency pyramid scheme and confiscated crypto assets from the organizers.

According to the head of CryptoQuant, the Chinese government has a very serious leverage and a high degree of influence on the country’s cryptocurrency sector. Ki Yong-joo suggested that these are not the only Chinese crypto assets that have been overlooked by the community.

As a reminder, Marcus Thielen, Head of Research and Strategy at Matrixport, predicted a softening of the rhetoric of China’s ruling elite regarding cryptocurrencies. The expert believes that Hong Kong can legalize retail trade in virtual assets to become the main center of digital finance in the Asian region. Besides, the Celestial Empire is actively looking for an alternative to the US dollar-based financial system.