Bitcoin Declines After U.S. Transfers $240M of Silk Road-Linked BTC to Coinbase

Approximately 4,000 bitcoin were confiscated from drug trafficker Banmeet Singh during his January 2024 trial.

On Wednesday, Bitcoin (BTC) dropped towards $60,000 following a transfer of around $240 million worth of seized BTC by a U.S. Government-tagged wallet to a Coinbase Prime address. This movement has sparked concerns among traders about a potential sale of these digital assets.

According to a social media post by Arkham Intelligence, the wallet moved about 3,940 bitcoin originally seized from a Silk Road vendor. “This BTC was seized from narcotics trafficker Banmeet Singh and forfeited at trial in January 2024,” the post stated.

The government’s previous major move involved the seizure of roughly 50,000 bitcoin linked to the Silk Road website in late 2022, and it transferred $2 billion worth of bitcoin on April 2, causing pressure on digital markets at that time. The last confirmed government sale occurred in March 2023, when 9,861 coins were sold for $216 million.

Bitcoin, attempting to recover from its earlier Mt. Gox-related decline this week, fell below $61,000 following the news. It has since rebounded slightly to $61,100, down 1% over the past 24 hours. The broader CoinDesk 20 Index also decreased by about the same amount. Ether (ETH) was similarly affected, dropping 1.6% on the day.