Governments hold 520k BTC

How they acquired it might surprise you

Colin Harper & Charlie Spears
September 02, 2025

Happy Tuesday! Hope you had a great Labor Day weekend.

Today, we reviewing which nation states have Bitcoin (and how they got it).

Plus, headlines you missed while grilling this weekend.

Nations hold a lot of bitcoin, but they aren’t buying it

While over a dozen countries are known to own bitcoin, only one country, El Salvador, is confirmed to acquire their BTC through direct purchases.

Deciphering how much BTC a country owns is a special blend of playing the game of nation state intrigue and deciphering bureaucratic incompetence.

However one thing is for certain: most countries that do hold bitcoin didn’t buy it. They mined it or they seized it.

The sovereign miners

United Arab Emirates (UAE)

The UAE has amassed roughly 6,300 BTC (~$700 million), making it the fourth largest sovereign holder via a state-owned mining company Citadel Mining, which is also tied to the royal family.

Bhutan

Bhutan is the standout case. Since 2019, its sovereign investment arm, Druk Holding and Investments, has leveraged its abundant hydroelectric power to mine bitcoin, and it now holds 10,565 BTC now worth $1.15 billion. The holdings are equivalent to almost 40% of the country’s entire GDP.

The seizure states

United States

According to Arkham, the U.S. government holds about 199,000 BTC worth ~$22 billion. Almost all of this bitcoin comes from notable criminal asset forfeitures such as the Silk Road, Bitfinex hacks, and FTX fallout. President Trump signed an executive order in early 2025 assigning these seized assets to the countries’ bitcoin stockpile, putting the USA at the top of the list of known bitcoin-holding sovereigns.

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News From Blockspace

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Metaplanet vaults past Riot to claim sixth-largest public bitcoin treasury with 20,000 BTC

The Tokyo-listed company completed its latest acquisition on September 1, buying 1,009 BTC for roughly ¥16.3 billion (about $110.7 million), raising its cumulative bitcoin investment to approximately $2.06 billion - link

Crypto funds net $2.48 billion inflows, but AUM falls on profit-taking: CoinShares

Digital asset investment products saw robust inflows of $2.48 billion last week, lifting total inflows for August to $4.37 billion and year-to-date inflows to $35.5 billion, according to CoinShares’ Weekly Fund Flows report. - link

IREN stock rallies 19% after earnings beat, flips MARA as largest public bitcoin miner

IREN shares surged 17% in premarket trading on August 29 and opened at $27.43 per share, 19% above the previous day’s close of $23.04. The bitcoin miner and AI infrastructure company reported fiscal Q4 revenue of $187.3 million, up 228% year-over-year, and earnings of $0.21 per share, topping analyst estimates of $0.18 per share. — link

Strategy updates STRC dividend with variable yield recommendations tied to stock price

Strategy (NASDAQ: MSTR) has amended its Dividend Adjustment Framework for its Variable Rate Series A Perpetual Stretch Preferred Stock (STRC), introducing a new band under which management will recommend a 25 basis-point dividend increase when STRC’s five-day volume-weighted average price (VWAP) falls between $95.00 and $98.99. — link

Lygos Finance acquires Atomic Finance to launch non-custodial, DLC-powered bitcoin loans

Bitcoin credit market provider Lygos Finance emerged from stealth last week, announcing its acquisition of Atomic Finance to create a non custodial, discreet log contract (DLC)-powered bitcoin-backed lending service. — link

Blockspace Podcasts

On this week’s Writer’s Room, Colin and Charlie unpack the UAE’s $700 million bitcoin mining operation, the US government’s move to publish macro data on-chain, and Tether’s planned launch on RGB.

On the latest Mining Pod, James McAvity, CEO of bitcoin miner Cormint, joins us to talk about a potential, looming existential crisis for Bitcoin: low transaction fee revenue. With transaction fees at only 2% of mining revenue, McAvity argues the current model is unsustainable as rewards halve every four years.

Where we drop fun topics with nothing to do with Bitcoin.

On this day in 1945, Japan surrenders to the United States, signing documents aboard the USS Missouri to put close to World War 2. Curiously, the surrender ended hostilities in the Pacific theatre, but both nations wouldn’t sign a formal peace treaty until September 8, 1951 (effective April 20, 1952) with the Treaty of San Francisco.