US government moves Bitcoin holdings, price reacts
- A wallet labeled as one owned by the US government moved close to 28,000 BTC to an unknown wallet.
- Blockchain intelligence firm suggest the address is connected to Coinbase.
- BTC is down 3%, dropping below $67,000 following the announcement.
The US government transferred $2 billion worth of Bitcoin to a wallet potentially linked to Coinbase Prime custody on Monday. The transfer follows Arkham Intelligence analysis revealing the US BTC holdings to be $12 billion. Meanwhile, BTC is down over 3% since the announcement.
Bitcoin sell-off stirs negative sentiment among investors
According to a report by Arkham Intelligence, the US government transferred 29.8K BTC worth about $2 billion to a new wallet address today.
A few hours after the initial transfer, Arkham reported that the US government divided the Bitcoin holdings between two addresses.
UPDATE: The U.S. Government has split the $2B Bitcoin into two addresses:
— Arkham (@ArkhamIntel) July 29, 2024
10,000 BTC ($669.35M): bc1qlap8hkt9genaljz5nt2zlehhudx63zlahr2zek
19,800 BTC ($1.33B): bc1qngydl7hmgdtmuqjmtsyj3pcwszv0yn5mj6kz4c
We believe this represents a 10,000 BTC deposit to an institutional… https://t.co/0aULBXGd8P pic.twitter.com/RTwtaqvMmM
Blockchain Intelligence firm Spot On Chain suggests that the wallet is a Coinbase Prime address, considering the Justice Department had earlier announced that the exchange would custody and provide trading services for its Bitcoin holdings.
The transferred Bitcoin is potentially linked to the DoJ's Silk Road confiscated funds.
The US government still holds 69,000 bitcoins seized from Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht and 50,676 bitcoins seized from Jimmy Zhong, who was convicted for stealing the assets from Silk Road.
The move comes just a day after Republican nominee Donald Trump announced that he would fire Securities & Exchange Commission Chair Gary Gensler and prevent the US from selling its Bitcoin holdings if elected President. He also said he would ensure the country has a strategic Bitcoin reserve.
Senator Cynthia Lummis shared a similar sentiment at the conference after stating plans to introduce legislation calling for a Bitcoin strategic reserve to reduce the US national debt.
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