On August 14, the US government transferred 10,000 Bitcoins seized from Silk Road, worth $593.91 million, to a Coinbase Prime wallet address.
Earlier, on July 29, 2024, the government transferred 29,800 Bitcoins, worth nearly $2 billion, from their wallet to an unknown address. Then 10,000 BTC from this wallet was transferred to the Coinbase Prime deposit wallet on August 14.
As of now, the US government holds approximately 203,000 BTC, worth around $12 billion. This makes the US government the largest geopolitical holder of Bitcoin.
In 2024, presidential candidate Donald Trump discussed the issue, promising not to sell the government’s Bitcoin if elected. He has also pledged to establish a “strategic Bitcoin reserve” and mentioned the possibility of using Bitcoin to pay down the $35 trillion national debt.
There are concerns about a market crash due to government sell-offs. In July 2024, the cryptocurrency market experienced a downturn when the German government sold 50,000 Bitcoins, worth about $2.9 billion, amid investor concerns. After the sell-off, Germany was left with just 0.007 BTC.
Experts have criticized the sell-off, pointing out that the German government lost $124 million in profits by not waiting for Bitcoin’s price to recover.
Bitcoin is currently trading at $58,000 down 4% in the last 24 hours.
Related news: Donald Trump Proposes Using Bitcoin to Address $35 Trillion National Debt
