Na sexta-feira (10 de janeiro), o Bitcoin caiu para US$ 92.400 e atingiu o mínimo de US$ 91.208 durante a noite. O contribuidor da Fox Business, Jason Williams, afirmou que a administração do presidente dos EUA, Joe Biden, instruiu o Departamento de Justiça a vender mais de 1.000 Bitcoins durante o mercado altista, sendo vendidos por US$ 94.000.
A CoinTelegraph observou que o Departamento de Justiça dos EUA (DOJ) está se preparando para leiloar US$ 6,5 bilhões em Bitcoin, uma decisão tomada em resposta a uma decisão judicial em 30 de dezembro que encerrou a longa batalha legal em torno da propriedade desta disputa de Bitcoin.
According to on-chain tracking agency Arkham Intelligence data, as of January 9, the US government holds 198,000 Bitcoins, valued at about $18.5 billion, with the aforementioned $6.5 billion sale coming from the same reserve.
Some analysts speculate that the outgoing Biden administration may decide to sell all government-held Bitcoins for political reasons before Donald Trump is inaugurated as President of the United States.
Williams claims the Biden administration instructed the DOJ to sell thousands of Bitcoins during the bull market, fully aware that the incoming Trump administration might repurchase these Bitcoins at a higher price.
He stated, “This is a blatant distortion of the government's fiduciary responsibility.”
He added, “The Biden administration is selling Bitcoin at around $94,000; what price would Trump have to pay to buy them back? Higher.”
After the ruling allowing the US Department of Justice to sell 69,370 Bitcoins was announced, the price of Bitcoin plummeted.
However, history shows that US government Bitcoin auctions have little lasting impact on Bitcoin prices. For example, from March 2023 to now, the US government's Bitcoin holdings have decreased from 236,000 Bitcoins to 198,000, a reduction of about 38,000, valued at approximately $3.54 billion at current prices.
Despite the sell-off, Bitcoin's price surged by 375% during the same period, driven by strong demand for newly launched Bitcoin spot ETFs and increasing optimism surrounding Trump's campaign promise to include Bitcoin in the US strategic reserves.
Glassnode co-founders Jan Happel and Yann Allemann explained how the US government deals with Bitcoin sales. They noted that once Bitcoin is seized, the Department of Justice hands it over to the US Marshals Service, which manages sales through public auctions. These auctions are transparent and do not involve directly selling Bitcoin on cryptocurrency exchanges.
Direct sales on exchanges could lead to market oversupply, causing a significant price drop, while auctions can minimize this risk.
The US government has previously lost some massive profits through Bitcoin sales; over the years, they have seized and sold about 195,092 Bitcoins, generating approximately $366.5 million from these auctions. However, at current prices, the total value of sold Bitcoins is estimated to be $18.25 billion.
This means the government has lost nearly $17.9 billion in potential revenue, highlighting the enormous opportunity cost of liquidating held assets early. Ki Young Ju, founder and CEO of on-chain data platform CryptoQuant, stated, “Based on actual market value, $379 billion entered the market last year, about $1 billion daily. The $6.5 billion sold by the US government could be absorbed in just a week. Don’t panic.”
Bitcoin Technical Analysis
Bitcoin price has fallen below $95,195 and has remained stable below that level to maintain the bearish trend scenario suggested for future trading days, waiting to touch $90,000, followed by the 38.2% Fibonacci retracement level of $87,055 as the next major target.
The stochastic indicator has lost positive momentum, reinforcing expectations of a decline for the remainder of the day; a breakout above $95,195 and holding above that level would prevent current negative pressure, pushing prices to attempt to restore the main bullish trend.
The current expected trading range is between the support level of $91,000 and the resistance level of $95,500.
“Trend prediction is bearish.”
