Overnight, an address associated with the US government moved over $1 billion in Bitcoin. Does this signal the upcoming sale of the 49,000 BTC involved?
US government moves nearly 50,000 Bitcoins (BTC)
Overnight, several on-chain analysis firms identified movements on a Bitcoin (BTC) address affiliated with the US government, specifically the Department of Justice. In total, these movements represent the movement of just over 49,000 BTC, or approximately $1.08 billion at this time:
Figure 1 – Department of Justice address transactions
Therefore, it is worth asking what these movements are and whether they may be a sign of a sale.
For the moment, the market does not seem to have reacted particularly to the news, although the price of BTC continues to slide slightly downwards, since the 5% drop last Friday:
Figure 2 – BTC price in H4 data
BTC seized in Silk Road case
In reality, these BTCs would correspond to seizures made in the autumn of 2021 and spring of 2022 in relation to the Silk Road case, a now closed black market that operated on the dark web.
For the main move, a transaction of 40,000 BTC, Glassnode reported that 9,861 of them were redirected to the Coinbase platform, which is worth approximately $217.7 million:
For more information on the specific seizure that relates to these coins, please refer to this report.https://t.co/706DvnZXT2
The relevant transaction depositing these funds to coinbase can be found here.https://t.co/afisb9nyFF
We will keep an eye on these funds moving about.
– glassnode (@glassnode) March 7, 2023
At the time of writing, no further movement appeared to have occurred on the BTCs in question. Although one wonders if the share sent to Coinbase could be sold soon.
This could then apply selling pressure to the price, but it should be noted that while this transaction is notable, it is not unprecedented. Last year, for example, Tesla admitted to having disposed of more than $900 million worth of Bitcoin during the second quarter.
So while these movements are significant and worth noting, they should be kept in perspective. Even if the US government decides to sell all of these assets, there is no obligation to do so in a single transaction. Over-the-counter (OTC) means of exchange could also be used, or auctions.
