US Government Transfers $600 Million in Silk Road Bitcoin to Coinbase Prime

By: Eliza Bennet

The US government has transferred 10,000 BTC, equivalent to over $592 million, from a seized stash related to the Silk Road dark web market to a Coinbase Prime deposit wallet, as confirmed by on-chain data. The movement of these funds, which were initially obtained through the hacking of Silk Road by James Zhong in 2012, has garnered significant attention. The transaction is part of a larger effort that began on April 2, where the US government moved 31,800 BTC to different wallets, distributing them gradually.

Despite concerns within the crypto community about a potential 'government dump,' which historically has caused significant price drops as seen with the Movie2k incident in Germany, Bitcoin has shown resilience. Although Bitcoin's price dropped by 4% over the past 24 hours, it showed a positive variation of 0.5% in the last hour, standing its ground amidst these large transactions.

Notably, this move did not mirror a steep decline at the time of the transfer, unlike previous similar occurrences. The US government still holds over $1 billion worth of Silk Road-related BTC, suggesting future movements could continue to influence the market.

According to a CoinGecko report, global government holdings of Bitcoin amount to nearly 483,400 BTC, with the US leading with 213,297 BTC. Taking the recent transaction into account, this amounts to around $28 billion. The positioning of these large Bitcoin holders brings into question the potential impacts on market stability and the long-term implications for Bitcoin's price as these stashes are moved or liquidated.