Disappointment and frustration are sweeping through the US crypto world! The country has lost a significant amount of money by selling Bitcoin too early.

According to David Sachs, the newly appointed White House AI and crypto czar, the US government lost $16.8 billion by uploading BTC.

Recently, the United States had about 400,000 BTC on the federal balance sheet. To date, the White House administration has sold nearly 50% of those assets, bringing in $360 million. "If we had held all of that, just that the portion we sold would be worth over $17 billion. So we made this mistake of prematurely selling Bitcoin when we should have held it. We don't want to make that mistake with regard to the rest of it," Sachs said.

Preliminary estimates suggest that the US government could have earned an additional $16.8 billion by selling the assets at the current market price. This calculation is based on the current exchange rate of Bitcoin. In the end, the 200,000 BTC sold by US officials for $360 million would now be worth $17.2 billion. Unfortunately, they underpriced its digital assets by selling too early.

According to the Arkham platform, the US government currently holds 198,109 BTC worth $17 billion. These coins are set to form the foundation of the country's cryptocurrency reserve, which is expected to grow. Sachs suggested that one way to replenish this reserve could be by confiscating Bitcoin from criminals. These seized tokens would then be transferred to a "digital Fort Knox," the expert added.

Given that the US government has been authorized to accumulate Bitcoin to bolster the national reserve, Sachs emphasized that the authorities can only employ a budget-neutral strategy for acquiring digital assets. This approach ensures that treasury funds are not used to purchase BTC.