Bitcoin
Bitcoin (BTC) Price Drops After US Sends $240 Million in Seized BTC to Coinbase Prime
Bitcoin (BTC) fell to $60,000 on Wednesday after a US government-tagged wallet transferred about $240 million in seized BTC to a Coinbase Prime address, sparking concerns among traders that the digital assets are likely to be sold.
About 3,940 bitcoins originally seized from a Silk Road vendor were transferred through the wallet, according to a social media post from Arkham Intelligence. “This BTC was originally seized from drug trafficker Banmeet Singh and confiscated at trial in January 2024,” the post read.
The latest move by the government – which in late 2022 seized around 50,000 bitcoins related to the Silk Road website –was worth US$2 billion of bitcoin on April 2, which at the time also put pressure on digital markets. The last sale confirmed by the government was in March 2023, when it downloads 9,861 coins for $216 million.
Attempting a modest bounce from its Mt. Gox-related drop earlier this week, bitcoin fell below $61,000 when the news arrived. It has since returned to $61,100, down 1% in the last 24 hours, with the CoinDesk 20 Index decrease by approximately the same amount. Ether {{EHT}} also fell on the news, dropping 1.6% on the day.