The 213,500 BTC Bulgaria sold in 2018 are now worth 78% of its public debt 🙈
2018 ist im Internet die Nachricht kursiert, dass Bulgarien das reichste Land der Welt werden könnte, da es Grenz-Beamten gelungen sei, über 200K Bitcoin zu konfiszieren.
Damals waren die Bitcoin ungefähr 1-2 Milliarden wert, heute wären es 25 Milliarden Dollar, ungefähr 78% der bulgarischen Staatsschulden (32 Milliarden USD bzw. 54.2 Milliarden BGN, Leva).
Niemand wusste genau, was mit den Bitcoin passiert ist, ob die Behörden überhaupt die Keys hatten und was mit den Bitcoin danach passiert ist.
Wie sich jetzt herausstellte, scheint der Staat die Bitcoin bereits 2018 relativ zügig verkauft zu haben. Einen ähnlichen Fall gab es letztes Jahr in Deutschland, wo der Staat 50K Bitcoin veräußert hat.
Hätte Bulgarien die Bitcoin als Reservewährung gehalten, hätten sie damit mittlerweile fast die gesamten Staatsschulden tilgen können. Unglaublich.
Was sagt ihr dazu? Die USA haben mittlerweile eine Execute Order erlassen, dass beschlagnahmte Bitcoin gehalten werden sollen.
Bulgaria sold all of its 213K Bitcoin confiscated in 2018
AI-generated illustration (copilot)
https://x.com/cz_binance/status/1945491587087425945
https://x.com/saylordocs/status/1945495059887243405
https://x.com/rusty__tillery/status/1945537910809207284
Bulgaria missed $25B debt payoff by selling Bitcoin in 2018
https://cointelegraph.com/news/bulgaria-bitcoin-sale-could-have-erased-national-debt
2019: Bulgaria allegedly holds over 200,000 Bitcoin in reserve
https://peakd.com/news/@vikisecrets/bulgaria-allegedly-holds-over-200-000-bitcoin-in-reserve
English
In 2018, news circulated online that Bulgaria could become the richest country in the world after border officials managed to confiscate over 200K Bitcoin.
At the time, the Bitcoin was worth around 1-2 billion, today it would be worth 25 billion dollars, approximately 78% of Bulgaria's national debt (32 billion USD or 54.2 billion BGN, Bulgarian Leva).
No one knew exactly what happened to the Bitcoin, whether the authorities even had the keys, and what happened to the Bitcoin afterwards.
As it now turns out, the state seems to have sold the Bitcoin relatively quickly already in 2018. There was a similar case btw last year in Germany, where the state sold 50K Bitcoin as well.
If Bulgaria had kept the Bitcoin as a reserve currency, it could have used it to pay off almost the entire national debt by now. Unbelievable.
What do you think? The US has now issued an executive order that confiscated Bitcoin should be held rather than sold immediately.
such a shame that they have sold their btc in 2018
Die Amis sind schlau :-)
If I try to think back to 2018, I believe that I had heard of Bitcoin. But I new very little about it. So I'm trying to imagine how anyone could have said with any certainty, "what is this Bitcoin worth?"
That led me to think about what I would have done as a friend of Vincent Van Gogh in the 1890s. If he had given me one of his paintings.
At the time, he sold one for around 400 francs. And making comparisons with values over time is difficult. But let's say that was around $5000 in today's money. (you will never believe how much effort it took to arrive at that guess!)
As Vincent's friend, I like to think I would have hung on to this reminder of our friendship. So I would now be a few million dollars richer. But if I really didn't think much of his ear trimming habits, I would have been very happy to pocket the certain $5K!
So I can't blame government officials for cashing in when they did. But I can blame them for just about everything else that is wrong with the world. 😀
!BBH
Wonder if you will cash out the BBH token now. Or save it until it's worth $10K? 😂
Yeah it's really a dilemma, cool story with the Van Goth painting, think the gov was, is legally required to sell or destroy confiscated goods. So I wouldn't blame the officials, rather the politicians for not making better laws for Bitcoin, treating it more like money instead of a commodity or security.
There was no need to sell bitcoins. Today and tomorrow too.
I still remember that in Europe Bitcoin is going towards irrelevance.
What a chance lost, lower so much the debt could solve a lot of problems
!PIZZA
$PIZZA slices delivered:
@davideownzall(2/15) tipped @vikisecrets
Come get MOONed!
I wouldn't also blame them too, very few knew bitcoin would become this relevant now during that time. But it's definitely a huge missed chance to elevate the country on a financial. All they can do is learn from it and do better going forward :)
Reading about this now, it really seems unfortunate. I would not blame them for the decision, though.
Even if they would've expected Bitcoin to go up in value over the years, it still could be a good idea to sell it, depending on the investments they made with the money.
Of course, it would be great right now if they could pay off such a large amount of their current debt. It's possible, though, that they made some investments in 2018, which resulted in a lower debt over the years, so it's possible they actually "prevented" more debt than only the 1-2 billion dollars their Bitcoin was worth at the time.
It's easy to point fingers, but a government shouldn't gamble. It has a responsibility to its people. To be fair, most governments have done things far worse than gamble with 1 to 2 billion, but that's beside the point. What if Bitcoin had gone down in value? Imagine the people who were going through difficulties. Public services that needed more funding that wasn't there. That was a lot of money that could have been used. And people would have every right to blame the government for making that decision.
Furthermore, when would they sell it? Would now be a good time? What if it keeps going up? It's easy to know the lottery numbers or the result of a sports match after it happens. Before, it's just a gamble.
Shit happens, davon gibt es denke auch privat genug Fälle wo Leute ihr BTC verkauft oder verloren haben und sich nun ärgern.
Guter Punkt, hat keinen Sinn sich zu ärgern, geht vielen Privatanlegern sicher so ähnlich.
It's clear that he made a great decision, and that's why he's sure to stay in his position.
https://www.reddit.com/r/europe_sub/comments/1m29snr/the_213500_btc_bulgaria_sold_in_2018_are_now/
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I think the price of Bitcoin was unpredictable during that stage
!BBH
Dumm gelaufen
!BBH
!LUV
That's crazy, so if they held it and sold it today, they would be close to debt free.
I think that it would have been nice for them to hold it, but I think the government tends to think short-term. I don't think they believed in BTC that much, but it would have been quite the great investment if they had held onto it.