On-chain data shows that the U.S. government transferred part of the Bitcoin seized in the darknet market 'Silk Road' case to Coinbase Prime in the early hours of today (3rd), with a total of 19,800 coins, valued at nearly 2 billion dollars. The revelation has sparked numerous speculations in the market, fearing that these Bitcoins might be sold off.
According to data tracked by blockchain analytics firm Arkham Intelligence, an address labeled 'U.S. Government: Silk Road DOJ Seized Funds' transferred 19,800 Bitcoins to a new wallet in the early hours and then deposited them into Coinbase Prime.
This move is interpreted by the market as the U.S. government possibly preparing to sell this batch of assets or having already completed part of the monetization. In the past, when the U.S. government sold Bitcoins, it often triggered significant market volatility, but after this news broke, Bitcoin's price only slightly declined by 1%, currently around 95,900 dollars.
According to Arkham data, the U.S. government currently holds 198,000 Bitcoins, valued at approximately 19 billion dollars.
In July this year, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced a partnership with Coinbase Prime through the U.S. Marshals Service, which is responsible for managing criminal assets, to 'protect and trade' high-value digital assets.
The U.S. government has seized over 200,000 Bitcoins from suspects over the years, making it one of the recognized 'Bitcoin whales' in the cryptocurrency community. Due to the potential impact of large sales on cryptocurrency prices, the movement of Bitcoin by the U.S. government has always been a focal point of market attention.
According to court documents, the last confirmed sale of Silk Road assets by the U.S. government was in March 2023, when 9,861 Bitcoins were sold for 216 million dollars. Additionally, an announcement was made in January this year stating that 2,933 Bitcoins seized from the Silk Road case would be sold, but no further updates have been provided since.
"The U.S. government has transferred nearly 2 billion dollars worth of Bitcoin, raising market concerns about the risk of sell-offs" was first published on (Blockkey).
