BITCOIN SEASON 2: The US Government Is Hiding Its Bitcoin Stash
CoinDesk Podcast Network
CoinDesk
4.8 • 689 Ratings
🗓️ 19 July 2025
⏱️ 24 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Investigative journalism reveals US Marshals hold only 29K Bitcoin, not 200K as widely believed. We explore the difference between seized vs forfeited assets and why government Bitcoin tracking is so confusing.
Charlie and Colin dive deep into investigative journalism that reveals the US government's Bitcoin holdings are far more complex than anyone realized. After a $10K bounty led to a FOIA request, we discovered the US Marshals Service holds just 29,000 Bitcoin - not the 200,000 widely reported. We explore seized vs forfeited assets, government custody practices, and why Senator Lummis got it wrong.
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**Notes:**
• US Marshals hold 29,000 Bitcoin worth $3.4B
• Arkham shows 198,000 Bitcoin for US government
• US sold 195,000 Bitcoin for $366.5M total
• Bitfinex hack involved 94,000 seized Bitcoin
• Government peak holdings: 237K Bitcoin (2022)
• $10K bounty offered for Marshal data
Timestamps:
00:00 Start
00:47 Lola investigates
05:27 29k BTC
11:03 Politicians enter the chat
17:47 Government custody providers
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hey everyone, Charlie here. |
| 0:02.9 | We're running a quick survey. |
| 0:04.4 | We want to better understand who our listeners are. |
| 0:07.4 | Do me a huge favor and fill out that survey. |
| 0:09.9 | It takes under a minute and the link is in the show description. |
| 0:13.2 | This helps us make better content for you. |
| 0:15.5 | Thanks a ton for listening. |
| 0:16.8 | Link in the show notes. |
| 0:19.6 | Investigative journalism strikes again. |
| 0:22.6 | Does the U.S. government own less Bitcoin than initially thought? |
| 0:27.7 | Or is that Bitcoin just obscured in the government bureaucracy morass? |
| 0:34.0 | We dive in today and we leave with more questions than answers, but we do have a couple answers for you. |
| 0:39.8 | Welcome to Bitcoin Season 2. |
| 0:47.6 | Okay, we are back at it again. |
| 0:51.5 | Good weekend. |
| 0:52.5 | This is Bitcoin Season 2, Writers Room. |
| 0:55.0 | We're Colin and I write the screenplay to the weirdest season of Bitcoin. |
| 0:59.3 | And it's weird again. |
| 1:02.1 | Right now we have senators |
| 1:04.7 | spreading misinformation on Twitter. |
| 1:09.5 | Potential misinformation. Potential misinformation. Alleged misinformation. Alleged misinformation. Twitter. Potential misinformation. |
| 1:10.8 | Potential misinformation. |
... |
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