美国司法部2022年宣布，从Zhong那里缴获了超过50000个比特币，其中一些存储在“一个被埋在爆米花罐下毯子里的单板电脑”中。管政府此后将许多比特币转移到不同的钱包，但截至发稿时仍持有约180亿美元的比特币。On December 2, a wallet associated with the usa government transferred about 19,800 bitcoins (worth 1.9 billion usd at the time) to a deposit address on Coinbase Prime, originating from the "proceeds" of the investigation into James Zhong in 2021.
Recently, the USA government transferred approximately 1.9 billion USD worth of funds seized from the Silk Road black market case to Coinbase's institutional service platform Coinbase Prime. $Bitcoin (BTC.CC)$ This move has attracted market attention.
According to the data from the blockchain analysis company Arkham Intelligence, on December 2nd, a wallet associated with the USA government transferred around 19,800 bitcoins (then valued at $1.9 billion) to a deposit address on Coinbase Prime. These bitcoins originated from the investigation of James Zhong in 2021, who was convicted of telecommunications fraud related to the Silk Road market.
In 2022, the USA Department of Justice announced that it confiscated over 50,000 bitcoins from Zhong, some of which were stored in 'a single-board computer hidden under a blanket under a popcorn can.' The government subsequently moved many bitcoins to different wallets, but as of the time of writing, still holds around $18 billion worth of bitcoin.
Silk Road was once a famous dark web market that conducted millions of dollars in cryptocurrency trades, where users could buy weapons, drugs, stolen credit card information, and other illegal items. The platform's founder Ross Ulbricht was sentenced to life imprisonment without parole in 2015. Since the 2024 USA presidential election, many professionals in the cryptocurrency industry have been calling for Trump to reduce Ulbricht's sentence.
Yesterday, bitcoin briefly fell below $95,000 during intraday trading, dropping around 2% intraday, and currently rebounding to near the $96,000 mark.
It is currently unclear whether this transfer is part of the authorities' trading or selling of these assets. Some US legislators, including Senator Cynthia Lummis and President-elect Trump, have suggested legislating to establish a 'strategic bitcoin reserve' in the USA.
It is noteworthy that the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (the federal agency responsible for confiscating crypto and other assets related to criminal activities) announced in July this year to collaborate with Coinbase Prime to custody tokens related to asset confiscation. However, Coinbase is still facing civil lawsuits filed by the US Securities and Exchange Commission in June 2023.
Editor/rice
