On Tuesday (December 3), Bitcoin fell below $96,000, maintaining a weak stance, dipping to a low of $94,395. The U.S. government is set to transfer $1.9 billion worth of Bitcoin seized from Silk Road to a Coinbase Prime wallet, triggering panic selling. However, Wall Street's largest listed whale, MicroStrategy, sticks to its strategy and invests another $1.5 billion in Bitcoin.
As Bitcoin experiences downward volatility, data from CoinGlass shows that the total liquidation amount in the cryptocurrency market reached $547 million in the past 24 hours, with $360 million in long liquidations and $179 million in short liquidations, affecting over 190,000 individuals.
According to data from blockchain analytics firm Arkham Intelligence, on Monday, a wallet associated with the U.S. government transferred approximately 19,800 bitcoins to a Coinbase Prime deposit wallet address. These bitcoins were seized during the investigation of James Zhong in 2021, who was later convicted of telecommunications fraud related to the Silk Road market.
The U.S. Department of Justice announced in 2022 that it had seized over 50,000 bitcoins from Zhong at that time, including 'coins stored in a wallet on a single-board computer that was placed under a blanket in a popcorn jar.' Since then, the U.S. government has transferred many bitcoins to different wallets, but currently, it still holds bitcoins worth approximately $18 billion.
It is currently unclear whether the transfer of these bitcoins is part of a government trade or a strategy to sell these funds. U.S. legislators, including Senator Cynthia Lummis and President-elect Donald Trump, have suggested establishing a 'Bitcoin National Strategic Reserve' in the U.S. through legislation.
The U.S. Marshals Service (the federal agency responsible for seizing cryptocurrency and other assets involved in criminal activities) stated in July that it would collaborate with Coinbase Prime to manage tokens related to asset forfeiture. Coinbase is still facing a civil lawsuit filed by the SEC in June 2023.
At its peak, the Silk Road market facilitated cryptocurrency user transactions worth millions of dollars, allowing users to purchase illegal items such as weapons, drugs, and stolen credit card information. The platform's founder, Ross Ulbricht, was sentenced to life in prison without parole in 2015.
Since the 2024 U.S. elections, many in the cryptocurrency industry have called for Trump to reduce Ulbricht's sentence. Trump promised to do so 'on his first day in office,' but it is worth noting that he had the opportunity to do this during his first term.
Despite the panic selling triggered by the U.S. government, Wall Street's giant whales continue to adhere to a buying strategy, providing support for the crypto market.
MicroStrategy CEO Michael Saylor announced on Twitter that MicroStrategy purchased 15,400 bitcoins at an average price of $95,976, as Bitcoin briefly dipped below $96,000 earlier.
Saylor wrote: 'MicroStrategy has acquired 15,400 bitcoins at a price of approximately $95,976 per bitcoin for about $1.5 billion, achieving a year-to-date bitcoin return of 38.7% and a year-to-date return of 63.3%. As of December 2, 2024, we have acquired 402,100 bitcoins at a cost of approximately $23.4 billion, at an average price of about $58,263 per bitcoin.'
Bitcoin Technical Analysis
Economies.com states that Bitcoin prices are trading with a significant negative sentiment, attacking the support line of the bullish channel and attempting to stay below it, suggesting that the remainder of the day will trend downwards, paving the way towards $94,655, followed by the key negative level of $91,852.35.
Therefore, unless the price successfully breaks through $96,325 and maintains above that level, the upcoming trading days will exhibit a bearish tendency.
The current expected trading range is between the support level of $93,500 and the resistance level of $97,000.
