Author: Martin Young, CoinTelegraph; Translator: Bai Shui, Golden Finance
Executives in the crypto industry quickly pointed out that the U.S. government's decision to transfer $1.9 billion worth of Bitcoin to Coinbase is foolish, with some calling it a 'huge strategic mistake.'
"This is a huge strategic mistake. On December 3, U.S. Space Force engineer Jason Lowery stated on X: 'It is unreasonable for the U.S. to sell Bitcoin under its control at any price.'
"They don't know what they have, that's clear," he continued.
"Remember this article when they inevitably try to justify the new version of EO 6102 to recover the Bitcoin they sold due to not understanding the true meaning of this technology."
EO 6102 is an executive order signed by President Roosevelt in 1933, 'prohibiting the hoarding of gold coins, gold bullion, and gold certificates in the United States.'
On December 2, the U.S. government transferred approximately 19,800 Bitcoin worth $1.9 billion at that time to the deposit address of Coinbase Prime.
Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong agreed and added, "I agree— in my view, the U.S. government should never sell Bitcoin."
Brian Armstrong agreed that selling Bitcoin is a bad idea. Source: Brian Armstrong
"If they are foolish enough to sell (we all know the government is foolish), then the supply will be immediately depleted," said cryptocurrency educator Toby Cunningham, while others joked, "Biden will cause as much damage as possible before leaving office."
So far this year, the U.S. government has transferred a total of 25,999 Bitcoin to Coinbase, worth approximately $2.49 billion. However, according to observations from the analysis platform Spot On Chain, these transfers appear to be custodial actions rather than sales.
Tether strategic advisor Gabor Gurbacs also stated that the U.S. government might be consolidating wallets or upgrading old addresses.
"There are still many things we don't know. It cannot be guaranteed that they will sell. I haven't seen any official auction information," he added.
CryptoQuant research director Julio Moreno stated that it is 'extremely likely' that only 10,000 BTC were sold in the recent market movement, as these were sent to Coinbase Prime, while the remaining 9,800 BTC were sent to newly created addresses.
The platform revealed that, according to Spot on Chain, the U.S. government still holds approximately 183,850 Bitcoin across various known addresses, worth about $17.7 billion.
Cryptocurrency balance on known addresses of the U.S. government. Source: Spot On Chain
The price of Bitcoin plummeted significantly during the transfer, falling nearly 3% to $94,500. However, as of the time of writing, the asset's trading price has recovered to around $96,000.
