The U.S. Supreme Court has decided not to register a case about 69,370 Bitcoins, worth about $4.4 billion, that were seized from a wallet connected to the Silk Road marketplace.
Now, when the legal hurdle is gone, The U.S. Marshals Service may soon auction off the Bitcoin that was once stolen from Ross Ulbricht’s dark web marketplace, Silk Road.
In this legal dispute, Battle Born Investments is a company claiming ownership of the seized Bitcoin. They argued that they acquired the assets from the bankruptcy estate of a man named Raymond Ngan. Battle Born believed Ngan was the mysterious “Individual X,” a hacker who stole Bitcoin from Silk Road and later turned it over to the authorities. However, both federal and appellate courts rejected their claims.
In recent months, the U.S. government has already been transferring big amounts of Bitcoin, possibly in preparation for selling it. This auction comes right after Germany sold over $2 billion worth of Bitcoins.
The sale of such a large quantity of Bitcoin has sparked concerns in the crypto community about market instability, affecting Bitcoin’s price. Also, a combination of catastrophic events like the Israel-Iran war could influence Bitcoin.
The sale of government-seized Bitcoin has also sparked political debate. Former U.S. President Donald Trump vouched at a crypto conference in July to create a “strategic Bitcoin stockpile” if he wins re-election. However, for now, the focus seems to be on liquidation, adding billions of dollars to government funds.#