Approximately $2 billion worth of Bitcoin previously seized by the United States authorities and connected to the now-shuttered Silk Road dark web marketplace has been transferred to a new wallet address.
More often than not, the feds have moved large stashes of seized Bitcoin when they intend to sell it.
Over 30,000 BTC On The Move From Silk Road Seizure
The U.S. government has moved its Silk Road Bitcoin haul again.
According to blockchain data, a wallet tagged as belonging to the United States Department of Justice on April 2 started transferring some of the 30,174 BTC (equivalent to $2 billion) to a wallet believed to be digital asset exchange Coinbase.
On-chain sleuth ZachXBT said in a post on X that the feds first sent a small test transaction of 0.001 BTC (around $69) before roughly 2,000 BTC ($131.27 million) was moved.
Update: 1999 BTC ($139M) transferred to the same Coinbase Prime deposit address
txn hash
b614dd2e0fa06d776ee4d45973fab5ceb6e2dfebfb84e5f7bd45ef0975455240— ZachXBT (@zachxbt) April 2, 2024
ZachXBT identified that the funds were sent to Coinbase Prime. However, on-chain data shows the bulk of the $2 billion in BTC was still “unspent” as of press time.
The Bitcoin stash held by US authorities was seized in November 2022 from James Zhong. Zhong hacked Silk Road in 2012 and stole 50,000 BTC from the illegal marketplace. U.S. authorities raided a house tied to Zhong in 2021 and found hard wallets containing Bitcoin, including one “on a single-board computer that was submerged under blankets in a popcorn tin.” The majority of the seized crypto assets was moved to the same government-controlled wallet that transferred 30,174 BTC earlier today.
The U.S. authorities have since periodically offloaded the seized BTC; in March, they liquidated 9,861 coins for $215 million. At the time, they said they intended to sell an additional $1.1 billion.
What Could It Mean For Bitcoin?
Government-owned Bitcoin is always intriguing to crypto enthusiasts. This is because when such gargantuan stashes of Bitcoin get transferred, it has previously caused a slump across all major cryptocurrencies, as pointed out by pundits.
The price of Bitcoin faced intense selling pressure today, dipping below the $65,000 level for the first time since March 24 amid renewed outflows from Grayscale’s GBTC.
Now, however, traders seem to be unperturbed by renewed concerns of selling pressure from the U.S. authorities, with the premier crypto up 0.1% in the last hour to trade for $66,063 at the time of publication.
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