Bitcoin Price at Risk? US Government Transfers Seized Tokens to Coinbase Wallet
According to Glassnode, a blockchain analytics firm, approximately 40,000 Bitcoin held in wallets linked to law enforcement seizures in the United States are currently being transferred.
Most of these transactions appear to be internal transfers.
On-chain data reveals that 9,861 of the seized Bitcoin were confiscated from the Silk Road hacker and sent to a Coinbase cluster. PeckShield, an on-chain security firm, confirmed that the roughly 40,000 BTC had been consolidated into two wallets controlled by the US government.
Approximately 40k $BTC from wallets associated with US Government law enforcement seizures are on the move.
Of these, the majority appear to be internal transfers (so far), however approximately 9,861 $BTC seized from the Silk Road hacker have been sent to our Coinbase cluster. pic.twitter.com/afuEYcV18L
— glassnode (@glassnode) March 7, 2023
This movement of $1 billion worth of Bitcoin between US government wallets, including a transfer of $217 million to Coinbase, has caused concern within the cryptocurrency community about a potential sell-off that could drive down BTC prices.
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The seized tokens stem from the 2013 raid of the illegal goods and services marketplace the Silk Road, which was an online marketplace founded by Ross Ulbricht that facilitated the sale and transfer of illicit goods through a combination of VPNs and cryptocurrency.
The potential sell-off of 40k Bitcoin is feared to put downward pressure on the cryptocurrency’s price, especially considering that Bitcoin has already experienced over 9% loss in the last week.
It remains to be seen what kind of support there is at the sub-$21k level, indicating that more short-term losses may be on the horizon.