A recent breakthrough by blockchain analytics firm Arkham has led to the identification of a significant Bitcoin stash worth approximately $251 million, currently held by the U.S. government. This substantial fortune was seized from Banmeet Singh, a Canadian drug trafficker who was convicted in January 2023 of running a dark web narcotics operation. The discovery confirms that the 3,942 Bitcoins traced to Singh's illicit activities are now under the control of the U.S. government, significantly expanding its crypto stockpile.

The U.S. government's crypto holdings now total over 216,000 Bitcoins, valued at around $13.8 billion, with the majority of these assets obtained through seizures of criminal assets. Singh, known online as "mohalipranav," operated a vendor account on dark web markets like Silk Road to distribute narcotics and launder his crypto profits. His drug-running activities lasted from 2015 to 2019 before he was apprehended by law enforcement in 2021.

The $251 million seized from Singh marks one of the largest singular seizures of criminally derived cryptocurrency by U.S. authorities to date. As digital assets like Bitcoin continue to grow in both legal and illegal domains, blockchain forensics companies like Arkham play a crucial role in assisting regulators in tracking and recovering crypto-fueled crime proceeds. The unmasking of Singh's bitcoin wallet also offers a glimpse into the vast and opaque crypto stockpile held by the U.S. government, which continues to expand through seizures tied to the dark web's multibillion-dollar illegal economies.