Market participants have been paying attention to the transfer of Bitcoin addresses by the U.S. government, as any sales actions are likely to affect the price of cryptocurrencies. Typically, an increase in the amount of Bitcoin flowing into exchange wallet addresses increases selling pressure on assets and triggers a drop in asset prices.
According to Arkham Intelligence, on April 2, 2024, the U.S. government executed a Bitcoin transfer involving nearly $2 billion, transferring tokens to Coinbase Prime addresses in several transactions. The transfer amounted to 30,174.70 BTC and was successfully processed at block height 837,413.
In recent years, the U.S. Department of Justice has accumulated a large amount of BTC through crackdowns including Silk Road, Bitfinex hacking, and the James Zhong case. The last confirmed sale was in March 2023, when the government seized approximately 50,000 bitcoins associated with the Silk Road website in late 2022, selling 9,861 bitcoins for $216 million.
As of 1:10 p.m. ET on April 2, the U.S. government still holds 215,246 BTC (worth $14 billion) and 50,147 ETH (worth $163 million).
Bitcoin had already fallen sharply that day, and after the news came out, Bitcoin fell further, falling below $65,000, and has since rebounded slightly.
Crypto analyst and commentator Phyrex commented on the X platform: "I heard that this sale transferred to the exchange has been traded, and now it is delivery. If so, it depends on the delivery price and the choice of the new holder."