The USA authorities issued an announcement on Monday saying that they had seized 50,676 Bitcoin related to the Silk Street darknet market. With this newest seizure, the US authorities now holds round 214,682 Bitcoin.

US authorities holds 1% of BTC’s provide

The Bitcoin held by the US authorities comes after three main seizures during the last two years. The primary seizure occurred in November 2020. On the time, the US Division of Justice (DoJ) mentioned that they had confiscated 69,370 BTC valued at greater than $1 billion.

Earlier this yr, on-chain information confirmed 94,636 BTC consolidated right into a single pockets handle. The BTC in query belonged to the 2016 Bitfinex hack. Every week after this on-chain information was seen, US officers defined that the cash have been seized from two people, Ilya Lichtenstein and Heather Morgan have been arrested in reference to the hack.

The third and most current seizure was linked to a person that dedicated fraud on Silk Street. The 50,676 BTC seized from the person marks the third largest stash the US authorities has confiscated.

Following these three main seizures, it now exhibits that the US authorities holds a complete of 214,682 BTC. These cash symbolize round 1% of the full capped provide of Bitcoin of 21 million cash. Presently, the US authorities holds extra BTC than a few of the business’s largest gamers, comparable to MicroStrategy, which holds 130,000 BTC, and Block.one, which holds 140,000 BTC.

The most important Bitcoin holder at present is the world’s largest digital asset supervisor, Grayscale. The corporate holds 643,572 BTC in its Grayscale Bitcoin Belief (GBTC).

Auctions for the held Bitcoin

It’s nonetheless unknown if the US authorities will in the future clear all its Bitcoin holdings, on condition that it has been some time because it performed an public sale for its cash.

In June 2021, the US authorities, by way of the Basic Providers Administration, performed an public sale of $377,000 value of Bitcoin and Litecoin. A number of Bitcoin auctions sponsored by the federal government have additionally been performed up to now yr.

The BTC held by the US authorities may have been bought at greater costs. The primary giant stash of BTC seized in November 2020 may have simply been auctioned in 2021 on the top of the bull market when Bitcoin reached an all-time excessive. The identical case lies with the Bitfinex cash that would have been bought at round $40K earlier than the costs plunged additional.

Prior to now, the US authorities has been promoting seized BTC at a loss in comparison with the worth these cash may have generated in the event that they have been bought at an opportune time.

Furthermore, it’s also removed from the primary time the US authorities is among the largest Bitcoin holders globally. The US was the biggest BTC holder in 2013 after confiscating the BTC from Silk Street. The seized cash have been later bought at an public sale held in 2014.

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