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US: ready to sell Bitcoins seized from Silk Road
By Daniele Corno
The road is opened for largest Bitcoin sale auction: over 69,370 BTC seized by Silk Road in future sale pressure
Largest seized Bitcoin auction in history
The U.S. Supreme Court rejected the appeal of Battle Born Investments, thus paving the way for the sale of 69,370 Bitcoins, valued at about $4.4 billion.
These Bitcoins came from the Silk Roadmarketplace and were seized by the federal government. After a series of rulings, including one from the California District Court in 2022, the government can liquidate the assets through a federal auction.
Battle Born claimed to have acquired the rights to the seized Bitcoins through a bankruptcy estate related to Silk Road. However, the courts ruled that the Bitcoins were derived from illegal activities, so authorities seized the funds.
With the Supreme Court decision, the government can now sell Bitcoins in one of the largest auctions ever.
The government wallet and the movement of Bitcoin
A key element in this affair is the government wallet posted on Arkham Intelligence, find the link HERE. This wallet contains 69,370 Bitcoins seized from the Silk Road marketplace and another 133,869 BTC. In total, the wallet holds over 203,000 Bitcoins. The transparency of the blockchain allows investors and analysts to monitor the movement of these assets. This makes the wallet a key point of interest.
Movements of Bitcoin by the government have often influenced the market. For example, a few months ago, government direction moved some BTC to Coinbase, alarming users and creating large swings in the price of BTC.
Thus, the U.S. handling of the sale of 69,370 BTC could greatly affect the value of cryptocurrencies. Analysts wonder what the effect of this liquidation will be on the price of Bitcoin. A massive sale could drive prices down, while a well-organized auction could stabilize or even support them.
Bitcoin’s price has not been affected related to the news per se to the news, with the price settling steadily above $62,000
Ross Ulbricht and his situation
Related to the Silk Road case, Ross Ulbricht has been in prison since 2015, after a court convicted him of drug trafficking, money laundering and other crimes. Former President Donald Trump has stated that, should he be elected, he intends to release Ulbricht from prison.
