Bitcoin (BTC) Price Dips as U.S. Government Moved Nearly $2B Silk Road Bitcoin

Practically $2 billion price of forfeited bitcoin (BTC) linked to the Silk Street web site was moved to crypto trade Coinbase Prime on Monday.

A pockets tagged “US Authorities: Silk Street DOJ Confiscated Funds” transferred 19,800 bitcoin to a brand new handle on Monday with no prior transaction historical past. blockchain data proven by Arkham Intelligence. The cash was then deposited into Coinbase Prime.

The switch doubtless signifies that the federal government is making ready to promote the belongings, or has already bought them. Earlier cases of presidency promoting this yr led to vital Bitcoin sell-offs, however in the present day’s motion has – up to now – been extra subdued, with the value falling simply over 1% to the present $95,800 because the information hit. Following this transfer, the US authorities nonetheless owns $18 billion price of seized crypto belongings, Arkham stated.

The Ministry of Justice introduced in 2022 that that is the case seized greater than 50,000 BTC and arrested James Zhong, who pleaded responsible to wire fraud after the federal government alleged he manipulated the transaction system of the darkish net market Silk Street in 2012.

Final month, the U.S. District Courtroom for Northern California requested the events concerned to “decree that the federal government could liquidate some or all” of the forfeited digital belongings associated to Silk Street and retain the funds whereas an ongoing FOIA motion is resolved .

The final confirmed sale of Silk Street belongings by the federal government befell in March 2023, with practically 10,000 BTC bought for $216 million, courtroom paperwork present. The federal government set out plans within the submitting to promote the remaining belongings in 4 tranches over the course of that yr, however there was no follow-up communication about any gross sales since. Earlier this yr, the US Marshals Service, a division of the DOJ, announced a partnership with Coinbase Prime to ‘shield and commerce’ the federal government’s massive digital belongings.