The US government recently moved a whopping 10,000 Bitcoin (BTC) that had been seized Silk Roada notorious online black market platform. Over the years, the government has multiple large-scale Bitcoin transfers carried outand strategically move these assets to new wallets or other exchanges.

US Government Moves 10,000 BTC to Coinbase Prime

In an X (formerly Twitter) after On August 14, Arkham Intelligence, a blockchain analytics platform, discovered a new Bitcoin transfer conducted by the U.S. government. According to Arkham’s reports, the government had transferred 10,000 BTC, worth $593.5 million, from its cache of assets seized during the the downing of the Silk Road.

This huge bitcoin transfer has effectively captured the attention of the crypto community, leading to speculation about its destination and the potential impact on the already struggling market.

In November 2021, the US government had more than 50,000 BTC seized from the Silk Road Dark web internet marketplace. At the time, the total value of seized Bitcoin was approximately $3.36 billion.

Arkham Intelligence has revealed that the wallet address, bc1ql, received the 10,000 Silk Road BTC from a crypto wallet reportedly associated with the US government. This substantial BTC was then forwarded to 33J, a Coinbase Prine deposit wallet.

Given the large amount of BTC involved in the latest government transfer, many members of the crypto community have questioned or the government plans to sell BitcoinA potential sale could have a drastic effect on the crypto market, which is still recovering from major crashes in Bitcoin, Ethereum and other leading cryptocurrencies.

While deposits to a crypto exchange often indicate an intent to sell a crypto asset, in this case the government may have moved the 10,000 BTC for safekeeping reasons. To provide more context, on July 1, the U.S. Marshals Service, a division of the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) selected Coinbase Prime as a partner to provide custody and advanced trading services for large-cap digital assets.

Bitcoin Price Drops Below $59,000

Following the news of the US government’s massive Silk Road BTC transfer, Bitcoin’s price dropped significantly. According to CoinMarketCap data, Bitcoin is currently trading sideways and dropping below the $59,000 price mark.

Over the past few weeks, the price of Bitcoin has seen a remarkable rise downward trendwhich is faced with large price fluctuations in an attempt to maintain its foothold above $60,000At one point, the cryptocurrency plummeted by over 20%, largely due to widespread liquidations and massive sale of whales and the German government.

Of speculation Regarding a possible BTC sell-off by the US government, Bitcoin price could see increased volatility and further declines. At the time of writing, the cryptocurrency is trading at $58,321, marking a significant drop of 4.11% in the past 24 hours.

Main image created with Dall.E, chart from Tradingview.com