u.today
Financial commentator Peter Schiff has stated that it is "likely" that the Chinese government sold its Bitcoin holdings in January.
This comes after Senator Cynthia Lummis's statement about a possible Bitcoin "arms race" between the U.S. and China recently reemerged on social media. She predicted that the two superpowers could start competing to own more Bitcoin.
However, according to Schiff, who is known for his caustic anti-Bitcoin comments, China is not interested in such a race. He has stated that the proponents of the leading cryptocurrency are trying to pump the price by referring to the old comment.
"China is laughing at us for buying Bitcoin. We're buying digital fools gold while they buy the real thing," Schiff said.
In late January, Ki Young Ju, founder and CEO of crypto analytics firm CryptoQuant, stated that China had sold 194,000 BTC. The tokens seized from the PlusToken scam back in 2019 were then mixed and sent to various exchanges. According to Ju, it is unlikely that the Chinese government still owns these coins.
According to data provided by the Bitcoin Treasuries platform, China is supposed to be the second-largest government holder of Bitcoin (just behind the U.S.).
As reported by U.Today, the U.S. established a strategic Bitcoin reserve earlier this month in a big win for the crypto industry. However, the reserve will hold only the forfeited coins instead of buying new ones (at least for now).
Other major economies are not rushing to follow suit, with countries like Japan and South Korea expressing skepticism toward diversifying their reserves with Bitcoin.