I read an amusing story in Coindesk today. I quote:
Finnish Customs, known locally as Tulli, has been trying to offload a total of 1,666 bitcoin for several years, even drawing up a plan in September 2018 for a public auction of the digital coins. But officials have concerns that a sale would attract the wrong kind of attention and that it could even put the agency's own security at risk.
Speaking to local media, Tulli director Pekka Pylkkanen said: "From our point of view, the problems are specifically related to the risk of money laundering. The buyers of [cryptocurrency] rarely use them for normal endeavors."
Lol. The authorities in other countries have regularly sold confiscated bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies in public auctions. That is nothing out of the ordinary. And no, the majority of Bitcoin owners do not use them for anything illegal.
In 2018, the Finnish government barred customs officials from trying to sell seized bitcoin on exchanges or trading platforms, ordering the agency instead to hold any confiscated digital assets in a secure cold storage solution.
HODL!
As a Finnish taxpayer, I very strongly wish for this impasse to continue for as long as possible. If the market cap of Bitcoin reaches that of gold, which is entirely possible once the stock-to-flow ratio of Bitcoin matches that of gold's, 66, Bitcoin's is currently 25, doubling every four years, then one bitcoin will be worth ~$390,000. Then the confiscated 1,666 BTC would be worth about $640 million. That is roughly what may come to pass only about two years from now if the price of Bitcoin rallies in excess of the price point predicted by the stock-to-flow model two years when the next bull market tops out.
The current value of the confiscate bitcoins of about $15 million is meaningless to the national government. $640 million would go much further to help avoid many painful budget cuts. If Bitcoin were to continue appreciating as the protocol continually doubles the stock-to-flow ratio and as central banks are compelled to defend asset valuations on the financial markets, then it may be possible to see much higher Bitcoin valuations in the long term.
I wonder if we are lucky enough to have someone in the cabinet insightful enough to realize that liquidating any confiscated bitcoins any time soon would be stupid. LOL
https://www.coindesk.com/finnish-authorities-have-15m-in-seized-bitcoin-but-dont-want-to-sell-it