US Government Transfers $2.1B Worth of Silk Road Bitcoin

ZachXBT, a cryptocurrency investigator, claims $2.1 billion worth of Bitcoin (30,100 BTC) which the US takes off Silk Road is recently switch to a different wallet.

ZachXBT reports that a test transfer for 0.001 BTC ($69) prevails from an identical account to the Coinbase deposit account. This transaction could act as a test for more to come.

Navigating Coinbase Transaction

A test wiring of 0.001 BTC ($69) to a Coinbase account was part of the first transaction, indicating careful planning.
The test transfer under investigation has the hash value “9c3af4b48e66565f1da1da8278036fa1dbb09f2beaaca99c3504475390ba4590” as its value.

Furthermore, “3KrZVU9Jz4UKHpKUtuvkEMX1tY8zeiTvX2” is the Coinbase payment address.
Government’s intentions towards its ownership of digital assets have come under scrutiny following the transfer, which has attracted substantial attention from the cryptocurrency community.

The moved Bitcoins originate from a package of about 50,000 BTC that the US authorities confiscated in late 2022.  In 2013, the FBI buttons down operations from Black Web portal Silk Road .

Trade Route for the Bitcoin

The recipient’s wallet is recognized by blockchain analysis firm Arkham Intelligence as being a part of Coinbase. As suggestion arises that the government may be getting ready to sell or swap it. The government last made a significant transaction that was made official in March 2023, when it sold 9,861 Bitcoin for roughly $216 million.

The transfer of bitcoins this morning was made to an unknown wallet, but Arkham Intelligence has verified the wallet as being associated with cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase.

Following the announcement, bitcoin, which was already significantly less on the day, fell even more, closing below $65,000. After that, it slightly recovered and is currently trading at $65,200, down 4.7% from the previous day. The exact amount is deducted from the larger CoinDesk 20 Index.

The cryptocurrency community is keeping a careful eye on the consequences of this significant move. Thus makes predictions on how the US government will handle its remaining Bitcoin holdings. It’s unknown if the Bitcoin will be on sales rapidly or  gradually.

The US government submit a request in January to sell the Bitcoin that had been confiscated for about $130 million. The sale was not, however, made public.

The event can have an impact on investor mood and start conversations on how to handle and sell seized digital assets.