The U.S. government said it plans to liquidate more than 40,000 Bitcoins in four batches this calendar year.

According to a court filing on March 31, the U.S. government said it sold 9,861.17 bitcoins on March 14 for $215.7 million.

According to court documents, the BTC sold was part of the 51,351 seized from James Zhong. Zhong pleaded guilty to wire fraud after the government arrested him for illegally obtaining digital assets from the dark web marketplace Silk Road through hacking.

In 2022, the government demanded the confiscation of Zhong’s confiscated BTC.

U.S. authorities said it paid $215,738 in transaction fees, while its net proceeds were $215.52 million.

Meanwhile, the government added that it plans to liquidate the more than 40,000 bitcoin balance in four batches this calendar year. However, it will not conduct further sales until after Zhong’s sentencing date.

On March 8, the U.S. government moved 49,000 Bitcoins — sending 9,861 BTC to Coinbase and the rest to two new addresses. At the time, crypto community members worried that these actions would increase selling pressure on BTC.

However, the price of BTC continued to strengthen in March, rising to over $29,000 on March 29. Over the past 30 days, BTC has risen by more than 22%.