Key Points
- The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) transferred 30.17k Bitcoins, worth nearly $2 billion, to an unknown wallet.
- Despite fears of a market dump, Bitcoin’s price remained stable in the past 24 hours.
The U.S. government recently made significant moves in the cryptocurrency market. A wallet controlled by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) transferred a considerable amount of Bitcoins, approximately 30.17k, to an unknown wallet. This transfer is equivalent to nearly $2 billion.
Details of the Transfer
Spot on Chain reported this transfer. From this intermediary address, about 2,000 BTCs, worth $132 million, were sent to a Coinbase Prime address. Additionally, around 29.8k BTC, valued at $1.95 billion, were sent to another address reportedly owned by the U.S. government.
The wallet from which these funds were transferred contained Bitcoins seized during the crackdown on the Silk Road Hack of November 2021. Silk Road was an infamous online black market that used Bitcoin’s anonymity to conduct transactions.
Historical Context and Speculations
James Zhong, who stole more than 50k Bitcoins from the market, was arrested in 2021, drawing attention to the darknet. This seizure remains one of the largest in cryptocurrency history. The U.S. government sold more than 9k Bitcoins seized from this fraud in June last year, amounting to roughly $206 million.
According to CryptoQuant, the U.S. government still holds nearly 209k seized Bitcoins, worth $14 billion. The recent transfer sparked speculations and discussions, with some suggesting that the DOJ was moving Bitcoins for custody at Coinbase.
Despite the anxiety among market participants about a potential dump, the fears did not result in increased selling pressure. Bitcoin remained stable in the last 24 hours.
