Uncle Sam’s dithering over the country’s impressive collection of bitcoins cost it about $31 million in paper losses this week.
After shutting down illegal online drug bazaar Silk Road in October, the FBI found itself in possession of one of the largest collections of the digital currency in the world — a stash of 144,336 bitcoins.
At the end of January, prosecutors vowed to cash out its stash — which was then worth a hefty $114 million.
The government feared there were rocky days ahead for the cyber currency.
This week, those fears came true.
Bitcoin values have fallen sharply and Uncle Sam is still holding onto its bits, The Post has learned.
Manhattan US Attorney Preet Bharara has yet to pull the trigger on the sale, a federal official confirmed.
Bharara’s office declined to comment on whether it plans to wait out the crypto-currency storm.
On Friday, bitcoin prices dropped to as low as $574.29 per coin, according to bitcoinaverage.com.
That pushed the value of Uncle Sam’s booty down to $82.8 million, a paper loss of $31.2 million from where it was when the government agreed to sell in January.
The currency plummeted this week amid fears that hackers have been recording fake transactions that forced some exchanges to halt customer withdrawals.
The price has since moved higher, to an average $656 per bitcoin, according to the site.
Ross Ulbricht, the alleged founder of Silk Road, has also made claim to the government’s bitcoin stash, and he agreed that the coins should be converted to cash amid fears of volatility.
New York state’s Department of Financial Services is also looking at regulating the cyber currency.