The United States government has stirred the crypto community by moving over $2 billion worth of Bitcoin from its Silk Road crypto stash.
The recent Onchain activity by the US government followed a speech by Donald Trump at the Bitcoin conference about his plans to halt the United States selling of its BTC assets if elected. 
The Onchain activity by the US government also sparked speculations amongst the crypto community over fears of a potential sell-off of BTC assets by the US government. If this happens, the Price of Bitcoin will be affected. 
The transaction by the US government was picked up by blockchain analyst firm Arkham Intelligence who alerted the crypto community with a post shared on their X page. 
“BREAKING: The US. The government just moved $2B of Bitcoin to a new address: bc1qsl993y04xnq4fyhmrt6cnmctgjjv9ukdvrk0cd” Arkham tweeted.

Arkham also went further to describe that the transactions were made in two batches of $669 million and $1.33 billion. The funds according to Arkham were been moved to an institutional custodian with Coinbase being the most likely candidate due to its history with US government-linked wallets. 
“ UPDATE: The U.S. Government has split the $2B Bitcoin into two addresses: 10,000 BTC ($669.35M): bc1qlap8hkt9genaljz5nt2zlehhudx63zlahr2zek 19,800 BTC ($1.33B): bc1qngydl7hmgdtmuqjmtsyj3pcwszv0yn5mj6kz4c We believe this represents a 10,000 BTC deposit to an institutional custody/service” Arkham added 
Bitcoin declined about 1% following the transaction after it almost hit $70,000 for the first time since May. 
Crypto Community Reacts to the Transaction 
The crypto community especially Bitcoin enthusiasts showed concern about the recent move by the United States. The movement of over $2 billion in BTC assets points to a potential sell-off plan by the US government which created some negative sentiment in the market. 
The development followed pro-bitcoin speeches and the promise by Donald Trump to Halt the sell-off of BTC assets owned by the US government if elected. 
Tyler Winklevoss, co-founder of Gemini and one of the Winklevoss twins aired his opinion on the development pointing out the contradictory stance of the current US administration. 
“ On Saturday,@realDonaldTrump pledged to never sell any of the US government’s bitcoin. Two days later, the Biden-Harris Administration moved $2 billion of Silk Road bitcoin. Great look and a great way to reset with our industry.” Tyler posted on X 
How is Bitcoin faring at the moment? 
At the time of the report, Bitcoin is exchanging hands for $66,552, a 4.3% drop in price in the last 24 hours with a maximum price of $69,907 and a minimum price of $65,911. 
The crypto asset is down 9.5% from its all-time high of $73,737 which it hit on March 14. 
What to Know 
Bitcoin over the weeks has fully recovered from the selling pressure of the German government offloading about $50,000 BTC resulting in Bitcoin price falling as low as $54,000. 
The current activity by the United States government has sparked speculations about another round of sell offs which could negatively impact the price of Bitcoin
$BTC

Bitcoin started the week nursing a slump that stoked fears of outflows from dedicated US exchange-traded funds. Instead dip buyers poured in cash, a pattern that for some points to a less volatile token longer term.

A net $737.5 million was added to the 11 ETFs in the four days to Thursday, steadying Bitcoin near $58,000 after a drop to $53,602 on July 5 amid sales of seized tokens and fears of disposals by creditors of the failed Mt. Gox exchange.
Market participants argue the ETFs from titans including BlackRock Inc. and Fidelity Investments offer the type of bedrock demand that can temper price swings. The six-month-old portfolios have amassed about $51 billion in assets — more than 4% of Bitcoin supply — and feature hedge funds and wealth advisers as top holders. Such specialist institutions are a contrast to the individual investors lured to crypto in earlier years as a get-rich-quick trade.
“The increasing institutionalization of Bitcoin ownership will, over time, lead to decreasing volatility,” said Richard Galvin, co-founder of hedge fund DACM. Products like ETFs introduce a category of investor that is “more likely to undertake counter-cyclical buying,” he added.

Declining Trend
Gauges of Bitcoin swings have already trended lower in the past decade, though they remain higher than for assets such as stocks or gold. For example, the gap between 180-day measures of realized volatility for the token and the yellow metal has narrowed by over 100 percentage points during the period to 28 percentage points.
“Whenever the gold price falls, there are many value buyers such as bullion dealers, jewelers and central banks, who buy the dip enthusiastically,” said Charlie Morris, chief investment officer at ByteTree Asset Management. “These value buyers naturally help to quash volatility. With early institutional adoption, Bitcoin has seen growth in value buyers.”
The token still periodically traverses wide price spans during a trading day — so-called range-based realized volatility — and that may spur a perception of Bitcoin as considerably more skittish overall than other assets, according to a study posted on the CFA Institute’s Enterprising Investor forum.
“We’re a long way from Bitcoin’s volatility dropping to a level where it loses its appeal to traders,” said Caroline Mauron, co-founder of digital-asset derivatives liquidity provider Orbit Markets. “Its volatility is still higher than almost any traditional asset.”

Shiba Inu Developers Outline Future Plans In First-Ever Interview
The once anonymous leaders, Shytoshi Kusama and Kaal Dhairya, of the world’s largest decentralized community, Shiba Inu (CRYPTO: SHIB), have broken their silence in their first-ever interview with Arabian Business.
What Happened: After weeks of negotiations and security protocols, the interview occurred in a café at 3 a.m. in the morning. Both Kusama and Dhairya remained completely concealed during the interview and the subsequent photoshoot. Once an Uber driver in Los Angeles and a food delivery courier in New York, Kusama, and Dhairya now helm the second most-traded cryptocurrency in 2023, second only to Bitcoin.
Under Kusama’s leadership, Shiba Inu has seen its valuations swing between $10 billion and $41 billion. Their ambition is to make Shiba Inu the world’s first trillion-dollar decentralized entity. Currently, less than 5% of the world is on crypto. They predict that memes will be the gateway to crypto and blockchain while Shiba Inu will be the brand that will lead the world from Web2 to Web3.
Kusama added that by the end of 2024 they will hand everything over to the community and we step away. He stated that there will be committees of people who will lead certain things.
Why It Matters: Shytoshi and Kaal revealed that Ryoshi had a specific plan to create five tokens (SHIB, BONE, LEASH, TREAT, SHI) and multiple pieces of technology. He initially assumed if someone could build all these things, then it could overtake Dogecoin. "That was also the plan – he was the Dogecoin killer.".
Arabian Business reported, citing Dhariya, that SHIB is all about creating memes and that is what they want, "People build their things with it, and our job is to give them the ability to amplify their message."
Kusama noted that while people think they are just a meme but they have a structure that can let them do business with anyone in this world.
#meme #shiba #doge⚡ $SHIB

#crypto