Silk Road Bitcoin for sale? US government-linked addresses transfer $1B in BTC

50,000 Bitcoin (BTC) worthy $1 cardinal United States dollars were moved from aggregate wallets related to U.S. Government instrumentality enforcement seizures and were transferred to caller addresses, and a fewer were moved to Coinbase connected March 8. 

According to data shared by on-chain analytics steadfast PackShield, determination were 3 transfers made from the U.S. instrumentality enforcement agencies' wallets. These wallets held astir 51,000 BTC seized by U.S. agencies from the Silk Road marketplace successful November 2021. The confiscated BTC was consolidated successful 2 wallet addresses: bc1q5s…0ch and bc1q2ra…cx7.

Silk Road Bitcoin moved to 3 antithetic addresses. Source: Twitter

Out of these 3 transfers, the bulk look to beryllium interior transfers. However, astir 9,861 BTC was sent to Coinbase. The different 2 transfers see a 30,000 BTC transportation to an code starting with bc1q... and a 9,000 BTC transportation to an code starting with bc1qe7....

Silk Road BTC sent to Coinbase. Source: Glassnode

Silk Road was an online achromatic marketplace and the archetypal modern darknet market. It was launched successful 2011 by its American laminitis Ross Ulbricht nether the pseudonym "Dread Pirate Roberts." The marketplace was 1 of the archetypal to judge Bitcoin payments and adjacent popularised crypto usage astatine its time. The U.S. instrumentality enforcement agencies confiscated aggregate items from its founder, including hoards of BTC which person been auctioned from clip to clip and arsenic aboriginal arsenic 2014.

Related: Key Bitcoin terms metrics constituent to BTC downside beneath $22.5K

Popular Bitcoin proponent Tim Draper bought astir 30,000 BTC successful 2014 from 1 of these auctions. Another auction for 50,000 BTC was held successful October 2015, wherever the U.S. Marshall Services auctioned 21 blocks of 2,000 BTC and 1 artifact of 2,341 successful an online auction.

While lone a tiny information of the 50,000 BTC was sent to Coinbase, The question of billions worthy of BTC from U.S enforcement agency-linked wallets evoked chaotic reactions and adjacent wilder theories. A idiosyncratic pointed out that if the U.S. agencies decided to merchantability their Silk Road Bitcoin, it would enactment important selling unit connected the market. At the aforesaid time, a fewer others questioned the timing of the sale.