- The US government has transferred $2 billion worth of bitcoins, seized from the Silk Road marketplace, to Coinbase Prime
- Around 19,800 BTC has been moved, raising fears about potential impacts on Bitcoin’s market price
- The Supreme Court has recently allowed the government to liquidate seized cryptocurrency assets following a court case
The US government seems on the verge of selling $2 billion worth of bitcoins from Silk Road following a recent coin move. Approximately 19,800 bitcoins were moved out of a US government-controlled address yesterday, half of which went directly to Coinbase Prime, suggesting that a sale is imminent. The transfer comes after the Supreme Court’s approval of cryptocurrency asset liquidation, following its rejection in October of a court case relating to the ownership of the coins. In the past, US authorities have sold bitcoins through auctions, but now use clearing houses such as Coinbase to minimize friction in the sale process.
Lawsuit Loss Leads to Mammoth Sale
Silk Road was shuttered when its founder and operator, Ross Ulbricht, was arrested in October 2013, with tends of thousands of bitcoins seized as a result. The bitcoins in question were part of a lawsuit which saw a company, Battle Born Investments, claim ownership of them having allegedly purchased the rights as part of a bankruptcy buyout.
However, a California district court rejected its claim in 2022, as did an appeals court the year after, leading to Battle Born taking the case to the Supreme Court. However, the Supreme Court rejected the case in October, leaving the U.S. Marshals Service free to sell the coins.
It seems that this process has begun, with Arkham Intelligence spotting the move yesterday:
ALERT: US GOVERNMENT MOVING $1.92B BTC TO NEW ADDRESS
Address: bc1q0av33ktzrkjps8exjex5gtv98vx225uqmzhspm pic.twitter.com/JSELsjFg5T
— Arkham (@arkham) December 2, 2024
The 19,800 bitcoins were split into two wallets, with the contents of one, worth $963 million, being sent to Coinbase Prime, where it is expected a sale is imminent. The contents of the second wallet will surely move to Coinbase Prime in the not-too-distant future, resulting in another sale.
While the sale of these coins may be considered good news in the long run, there is a catch: the US government-associated wallet address currently has over 188,000 bitcoins, with over $18 billion, to dispose of.
