Two wallets linked to the U.S. government, associated with the infamous Silk Road seizure, have caught the attention of crypto watchers as they shuffled around over $300 million in Bitcoin across three transactions on Wednesday. Notably, Bitcoin’s price fell to $30,480 following the transactions.
According to on-chain data, the government-controlled wallets conducted transactions involving a total of 9,825 Bitcoin, equivalent to $301 million. This move recalls a similar transaction in March, where over $1 billion in Bitcoin was transferred, leading to a temporary drop in major cryptocurrencies.
Silk Road’s ghost lingers in crypto markets
The $300 million shuffling probably stems from the U.S. government’s largest-ever crypto seizure. Back in November 2021, the Department of Justice laid its hands on a staggering $3.36 billion in Bitcoin, which hacker James Zhong had unlawfully appropriated from the Silk Road marketplace. The cryptocurrency haul was seized after Zhong’s confession, ending a decade-long saga that started when Zhong exploited the Silk Road’s transaction system to abscond with 50,676 Bitcoins back in 2012.
Since the monumental seizure, the government has been gradually liquidating its Bitcoin holdings, selling $215 million worth of the digital asset in March alone, with plans of divesting another $1.1 billion. Tracking the government’s crypto movements is akin to monitoring a ticking time bomb, as significant transactions have often sent shockwaves across the crypto landscape, influencing Bitcoin’s price trajectory.
At the time of writing, the cryptocurrency is trading for $30,343 per coin, experiencing a 0.59% decrease in the last 24 hours.
