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With the price of Bitcoin holding just below its all-time high of $99,540, the significant move by the US government has raised concerns among investors. The government has transferred a large amount of its seized Bitcoin holdings to Coinbase, which may indicate sell-off intentions. This reflects similar measures that previously affected the market earlier this year.
Bitcoin transfer from US government
According to To market intelligence firm Arkham, the US government transferred nearly 10,000 bitcoins, worth about $1.92 billion at current market prices, to two separate wallets.
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One wallet contains $969 million worth of Bitcoin, while the other contains approximately $949 million. This strategic allocation has drawn attention, especially given the government’s history of selling confiscated Bitcoin, which may create noticeable selling pressure in the market.
Data from cryptocurrency analytics firm Dune indicates that the U.S. Gov Currently downloading That’s a staggering 183,422 bitcoins, worth more than $17.6 billion. This represents about 0.93% of the total supply of Bitcoin.
If the government decides to sell part of this property, it could put significant downward pressure on the price of Bitcoin, which is reminiscent of previous sell-offs that followed large transfers.
Government sales stop in 2025?
Historically, such actions have increased volatility. For example, NewsBTC I mentioned In April, when the price of Bitcoin peaked at $73,700, the government transferred more than 30,000 Bitcoin seized from the Silk Road market.
This followed the previous seizure of more than 50,000 Bitcoin from James Chung, who allegedly obtained the funds through illegal means related to the cryptocurrency. Silk Road In 2012. Following these transfers, Bitcoin experienced significant price fluctuations and a downward trend over the subsequent months.
In 2022, the government also sold 9,800 bitcoins, with plans to liquidate an additional 41,500 bitcoins. This history raises concerns that the recent conversion could lead to a similar outcome, which could jeopardize the Bitcoin price’s recent upward momentum. However, there are emerging hopes that such moves could be scaled back in 2025.
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President-elect Donald Trump is expected to take office on January 20, and has proposed a strategy that includes making Bitcoin a digital currency. Strategic reserve assets For the United States.
This approach will involve the government purchasing approximately 1 million bitcoins instead of selling its existing holdings, with plans to use these assets to help reduce the country’s $36 trillion national debt.
This proposal was introduced to Congress by Republican US Senator Cynthia Lummis under the “Bitcoin Act”, which received support Bipartisan support. With the recent shift in leadership from Democrats to Republicans securing the majority in the House of Representatives, there is optimism that this bill could go into effect in the second or third quarter of 2025.
At the time of writing, Bitcoin is trading at $96,000, down 0.7% over the past 24 hours.
Featured image of DALL-E, chart from TradingView.com