Using on-chain information, the US law enforcement agency moved 49,000 Bitcoin (BTC), worth more than $1 billion, through the early hours of March 8.
The US corporation reportedly transferred around 40,000 BTC, and on-chain information provider Glassnode noted that the transactions appeared to be internal transfers. Nonetheless, it was well-known that the government organization sent 9,861 BTC (worth $219 million), which had been taken from the Silk Highway hacker, to Coinbase.
The US government requested the forfeiture of 51,351 Bitcoin from James Zhong in 2022. The items were valued at over $3 billion at the time.
Lookonchain, an on-chain analyzer, confirmed Glassnode’s claims, claiming that the business moved 39,175 BTC ($867M) to two new addresses.
Holdings of the US government in bitcoin
Before today’s transactions, Glassnode reported that the US government reportedly held 144,500 Bitcoins, making the country a crypto whale.
About all of the American acquisitions to date have been made through seizures. The US Department of Justice seized $3.6 billion worth of Bitcoin associated with the 2016 Bitfinex breach in 2022. Before it, when it shut down the Silk Highway, the government confiscated 70,000 BTC from Ross Ulbricht.
Nonetheless, the country usually sells off its seized cryptocurrency assets at auction. The US government possessed $4.08 billion worth of Bitcoin as of February 2022.