🟪 HODL vs SODL
What should we do with confiscated coins?
Michael McSweeney
April 20, 2025
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If they build it, will they come?
Earlier this week on the Supply Shock podcast newsletter, we discussed an interesting report out of Reuters about China and crypto.
TL;DR — there’s a debate going on about what, exactly, to do with confiscated coins.
Now, you’re probably thinking, well, why doesn’t China just HODL? And perhaps it should. Another school of thought that Americans might know is the school of thought that encourages SODL instead. That is, dump them on the market right away.
This is apparently happening now, with the added boon of using the proceeds to fund local governments. Those governments aren’t in the best financial position, so the thinking must be that the confiscated coins can help pad the books a bit. Great, right?
Personally, I’m less interested in whether some municipalities take the Saylor approach and start hanging onto their BTC (the article, for the record, doesn’t specify what’s been confiscated).
What is interesting to me is that this article represents another situation where policy around crypto is being actively debated in a place where, ostensibly, crypto remains technologica non grata.
Remember, China officially threw the hammer down on crypto trading years ago and, somewhat more recently, mining. It effectively chased the twin pillars of crypto out of the country. So, why debate what to do with confiscated coins?
I think what might be happening — read: a huge, improbable might — is a slight thaw in the anti-crypto mentality. This sort of policy discussion, while small and decidedly specific, points to a future where activity around crypto is, well, more normalized. Might we see more? Stay tuned, I say.
— Michael McSweeney
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ZKsync is accelerating institutional blockchain adoption and the rise of tokenization.
Institutions choose ZKsync to move tokenized assets securely across enterprises while preserving privacy and governance.
With gasless transactions, seamless onboarding, and scalable ZK infrastructure, enterprises can transfer financial products and data privately using ZK Stack — an open-source, trustless blockchain platform designed for speed, low costs, security, and interoperability without sacrificing control.
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Helium stands at a pivotal moment in its evolution as a decentralized wireless network, balancing rapid growth, economic restructuring, and global expansion. With accelerated growth in domestic DAUs and Hotspots supporting its network, Helium is leveraging strategic partnerships and innovative proposals to scale internationally. The recent implementation of HIP 138, “Return to HNT,” has unified its token economy under HNT, simplifying participation and strengthening liquidity, while HIP 139’s phase-out of CBRS refocuses efforts on scalable Wi-Fi offload. Meanwhile, governance shifts under HIP 141 raise questions about centralization as Nova Labs consolidates control over the roadmap.
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