Bitcoin fell slightly on Monday after the U.S. government moved a large amount of bitcoin from its Silk Road cryptocurrency hoard.
Data from Arkham show up The US government sent nearly $2 billion worth of Bitcoin (BTC) to a new address. The transactions were made in two batches, worth $669 million and $1.33 billion each.
According to Arkam, the funds are likely to be transferred to an institutional custodial service, with Coinbase a potential candidate despite being unverified due to its role as the preferred brokerage platform for US authorities.
No one is quite sure who is behind the address yet. Bitcoin fell about 1% on the news and was trading below $67,600. The drop came after Bitcoin briefly touched $70,000 for the first time since May.
Bitcoin community reaction
The lack of detailed information about the wallet’s management has not quelled speculation. Tyler Winklevoss, co-founder of Gemini, noted that the transfers occurred shortly after former President Donald Trump announced his intention to halt all government bitcoin sales if re-elected. The timing has led to further speculation about the current administration’s plans for the country’s bitcoin reserves.
Speculators are wondering whether the current Democratic administration, led by President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, is planning to dump the country’s bitcoin holdings.
At the Bitcoin 2024 conference in Nashville, Trump promised to turn the seized Silk Road BTC into a strategic national reserve. His promise to fire SEC Chairman Gary Gensler was met with enthusiastic applause from the crypto community. Additionally, the Trump campaign highlighted the case of Ross Ulbricht, the creator of Silk Road, with many in the Web3 community supporting his release.