The Bitcoins seized by the U.S. Department of Justice from the Silk Road case have been transferred multiple times over the past year, the most recent of which occurred in the early hours of yesterday, when 10,000 coins (with a total value of nearly 600 million) were received from a U.S. government wallet address two weeks ago USD ) Bitcoin wallet address to send Bitcoin to Coinbase Prime.
Analysts believe that while U.S. government deposits to exchanges typically indicate an intention to sell assets, in this case the transfer may have been for custodial reasons, as the U.S. Marshals Service, an agency of the U.S. Department of Justice, announced last month a partnership with Coinbase Prime Establish partnerships to "protect and trade" large digital assets.
However, financial lawyer Scott Johnsson believes that the U.S. Department of Justice is definitely selling these Bitcoins rather than "escrow" them.
Yes, US Marshal Service (USMS) is almost certainly selling silk road bitcoin. Joey is right (at least in the present). USMS has been sending BTC to a custodial address required by the terms of the servicing agreement that USMS entered into with Coinbase in June. Given the…
— Scott Johnsson (@SGJohnsson) August 16, 2024
Scott Johnsson cited the U.S. Marshals Service's (USMS) services agreement with Coinbase in June, stating that the USMS's assets must be completely segregated and cannot hold cryptocurrencies or sales proceeds in its exchange accounts for long periods of time, suggesting that when cryptocurrencies are transferred When it comes to an exchange account like Coinbase Prime, it must be liquidated (i.e. sold) quickly and cannot be held in the account for long periods of time. The agreement reads:
“USMS intends to address this issue through its planned cryptocurrency services contract, which would require contractors to liquidate cryptocurrencies within 5 business days of asset seizure.”
In other words, when these assets are eventually transferred to Coinbase Prime (or other hybrid exchange addresses), it is certain that the USMS has sold or will soon sell these Bitcoins.
Finally, Scott Johnsson said that if you want to get official confirmation from the U.S. Department of Justice, it will be given in the 2024 fiscal year report of the Department of Justice (DOJ) Asset Forfeiture Program released in January next year at the latest.
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