The US government plans to liquidate over 41,000 Bitcoin seized from the Silk Road case and has already sold 9,861 BTC for $215.7 million, according to a court filing.
The United States government has recently made headlines with its decision to liquidate over 41,000 Bitcoin, which were seized as part of a case connected to the notorious Silk Road creator, Ross Ulbricht.
A recent court filing, submitted to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York on March 31, disclosed that authorities had already sold around 9,861 BTC for an impressive $215.7 million on March 14. This leaves roughly 41,491 BTC yet to be sold.
The seized Bitcoin is expected to be liquidated in four more batches over the course of this year, according to the court filing. It also noted that the second round of liquidation would not be sold before the sentencing of James Zhong, who was implicated in the case. Zhong pled guilty to wire fraud charges in November 2022, and U.S. authorities seized over 50,000 BTC, which were worth more than $3 billion at the time, from his Georgia home.
It is worth mentioning that this seizure is one of the largest crypto seizures made by the government, with the recovery of roughly $3.6 billion connected to the 2016 Bitfinex hack in February 2022 being the only larger seizure made to date.
The Silk Road marketplace, which has been defunct for a decade now, allowed users to buy and sell illicit goods, including weapons and stolen credit card information. However, this marketplace drew the attention of U.S. authorities, who arrested Ulbricht in 2013. He is currently serving two life sentences without the possibility of parole.
It is essential to note that the price of BTC has had a turbulent month, dipping below $20,000 on March 10 and reaching a high of above $29,000 on March 29. At the time of writing, BTC’s price was $28,378. With the US government’s decision to liquidate more than 41,000 BTC, it remains to be seen what impact this will have on the cryptocurrency’s price in the coming weeks and months.