The UK Treasury and Home Office are drawing up plans to liquidate roughly 61,000 Bitcoin confiscated in criminal investigations, chiefly a 2018 Chinese Ponzi scheme, according to reports in The Telegraph. The cache, now valued at about £5 billion ($7 billion), has swelled from around £300 million at the time of seizure and could be used to help plug an estimated £20 billion hole in the public finances. Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves is said to be reviewing the proposal amid pressure to find fresh revenue without resorting to further tax increases or deep spending cuts. The prospective disposal has revived debate about whether governments should hold, rather than sell, volatile digital assets. Critics point to Germany’s decision last year to auction 49,858 Bitcoin for $2.9 billion—an average of $57,900 per coin—only for the price to more than double to about $118,000 since then, leaving Berlin with an opportunity cost of roughly $3 billion. Similar auctions by the U.S. Marshals Service over the past decade have also forfeited substantial upside as Bitcoin appreciated. Before any UK sale can proceed, officials must establish a framework for compensating victims of the Ponzi scheme and navigate rules governing the disposal of criminal proceeds. No timetable has been set, and the Treasury has not commented publicly on the plan. Market participants are watching whether Westminster follows through, as a block sale of this size could influence trading and set a precedent for other cash-strapped governments holding seized cryptocurrencies.