U.S. Government Moves $2 Billion Worth of Bitcoin Following Trump’s Surprising Speech On Bitcoin
Bitcoin experienced a slight decline on Monday after the U.S. government transferred a substantial amount of Bitcoin from its Silk Road crypto holdings.
According to data from Arkham, the U.S. government moved approximately $2 billion worth of Bitcoin in two separate transactions, valued at roughly $669 million and $1.33 billion each.
The funds were likely transferred to an institutional custodial service, with Coinbase being a probable, albeit unverified, candidate due to its role as the preferred brokerage platform for U.S. authorities.
Despite the lack of confirmed information about who oversees the new address, Bitcoin’s price fell around 1% following the news, trading under $67,600 after briefly touching $70,000 for the first time since May.
The timing of these transfers has sparked considerable speculation, particularly as they occurred shortly after former President Donald Trump announced his intention to halt all government Bitcoin sales if re-elected. Tyler Winklevoss, co-founder of Gemini, pointed out this coincidental timing, leading to further conjecture about the current administration’s plans for the nation’s BTC reserves.
There is ongoing speculation about whether the current Democratic administration, led by President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, intends to sell the nation’s Bitcoin holdings.
At the Bitcoin 2024 conference in Nashville, Trump vowed to convert the seized Silk Road BTC into a strategic national reserve. His promise to dismiss Securities and Exchange Commission chair Gary Gensler was met with enthusiastic applause from the crypto community.
Additionally, Trump’s campaign has spotlighted the case of Ross Ulbricht, the creator of Silk Road, with significant support from the Web3 community for his release.
