The U.S. Government Is Hodling Over $1B Worth Of Bitcoin

Undoubtedly one of many largest crypto tales this previous week apart from the worth motion was the information that the U.S. authorities had made a monumental transfer within the Silk Highway case.

Though the main points stay sparse, the Division of Justice (DOJ) introduced that it had seized $1 billion price of Bitcoin and Bitcoin forks (BCH, BSV, BTG) from particular person “X”. The hacker is affiliated with the Silk Highway, the notorious on-line market that was what gave Bitcoin the kickstart it wanted to get the place it’s right this moment. He purportedly stole the cash, or at the least acquired them, from the now-jailed Silk Highway founder Ross Ulbricht.

It isn’t clear how the federal government managed to assert $1 billion from the person, and it isn’t clear who this shadowy determine is. Some consider he struck a deal at hand over the funds.

Regardless of the case, many have begun to invest what this implies for the market.

The DOJ has an obligation to promote the Bitcoin that it seized, as they’re technically proceeds from an unlawful operation.

We see this in “regular” felony circumstances with “regular” belongings, although we additionally noticed this with Bitcoin. The U.S. Marshals Service auctioned 44,341 BTC from the primary Silk Highway seizure in 2015 after auctioned 1000’s extra the yr earlier. That public sale noticed participation by Tim Draper, the Silicon Valley billionaire investor who’s now centered largely on crypto-assets.

However some suppose the DOJ ought to make a transfer to carry the cash, probably placing it on the Federal Reserve stability sheet or one thing of the kind.

Crypto-focused lawyer Preston Byrne commented on the matter:

“Controversial opinion: the DOJ mustn’t promote seized Bitcoins, it ought to start stockpiling a nationwide reserve of BTC to again the USD after the fiat period ends.”

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