US Government-linked Addresses Transfer $1B Worth of Silk Road Bitcoin

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Over 50,000 Bitcoin (BTC), worth around $1 billion, was moved from multiple wallets associated with US law enforcement agencies, and some of it transferred to Coinbase on March 8. 

Per data shared by on-chain analytics firm PeckShield, 3 transfers were made from wallets that were previously owned by US law enforcement. These wallets held almost 51,000 BTC seized from the Silk Road Market by US authorities in November 2021. Two wallet addresses were created from the confiscated BTC.

Silk Road Bitcoin Three addresses were moved. Source: Twitter

Most of these transfers were internal. However, a total of 9,861 BTC was sent to Coinbase. Other transfers included a transfer of 30,000 BTC and a transfer of 9,000 BTC.

Silk Road BTC sent from Coinbase. Source: Glassnode

The Silk Road was the first modern darknet marketplace and online black market. It was launched in 2011 by its American founder Ross Ulbricht under the pseudonym “Dread Pirate Roberts.“ The marketplace was one of the first to accept Bitcoin payments, which helped to promote cryptocurrency use. A large amount of BTC was confiscated by US authorities from the founder, and some of it was sold at auction.

Related: Key Bitcoin BTC price metrics point to a BTC decline below $22.5K

Prominent Bitcoin proponent Tim Draper acquired almost 30,000 BTC in 2014 in one of these auctions. Another auction for 50,000 BTC was held in October 2015: US Marshals Service sold 21 batches of 2,000 BTC, and one block of 2,341 BTC at an online auction.

While only a small part of the 50,000 BTC was actually sent, the US Government-linked wallets associated with BTC have triggered a lot of reactions and even wilder theories about the BTC movement. Twitter users. One speculated that US authorities might decide to sell their Silk Road Bitcoin, which would cause considerable selling pressure on the market. Others also questioned when the sale was made.

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