US: Authorities Transfer $2 Billion Seized Bitcoin from Silk Road

Approximately $2 billion worth of Bitcoin (BTC) seized by US authorities in connection with the Silk Road bazaar has been transferred to a new address. 

Blockchain data from April 2 indicated that a US Justice Department wallet sent a 0.001 BTC test transaction to a Coinbase Prime address. Subsequently, the same wallet sent 30,174 BTC, or nearly $2 billion at the time, to another address.

This action follows the government’s previous verified sale in March 2023, when it sold 9,861 bitcoins for $216 million. The bitcoins in issue were among around 50,000 coins confiscated by the government in late 2022 in connection with the notorious Silk Road website.

Online detectives recognized this wallet as the one containing Bitcoin recovered from James Zhong, who was convicted in 2022 for his involvement in the Silk Road investigation. In 2012, Zhong stole approximately 50,000 BTC from the Silk Road marketplace. In 2021, US police raided his residence and discovered hard wallets containing Bitcoin. 

The announcement of this significant Bitcoin movement had an instant impact on the cryptocurrency market. Bitcoin, which was already undergoing a negative trend, fell further below $65,000 following the revelation.