U.S. government sold over 9k BTC for $215.7M on March 14

The US authorities mentioned it bought 9,861.17 Bitcoin on March 14 for $215.7 million, in response to a March 31 courtroom submitting.

Based on the courtroom doc, the bought BTC was a part of the 51,351 seized from James Zhong. Zhong pleaded responsible to wire fraud after the federal government arrested him for unlawfully acquiring digital belongings from the darkish internet market Silk Highway by hacking.

In 2022, the federal government sought the forfeiture of the seized BTC from Zhong.

The U.S. authorities mentioned it paid $215,738 as transaction charges whereas it has internet proceeds of $215.52 million.

In the meantime, the federal government added that it plans to liquidate the over 40,000 Bitcoin stability in 4 batches throughout this calendar yr. Nonetheless, it could not make additional gross sales till Zhong’s sentencing date.

On March 8, the U.S. authorities moved 49,000 Bitcoin — sending 9,861 BTC to Coinbase and the remaining to 2 new addresses. On the time, crypto group members feared that the actions would enhance the promoting strain on BTC.

Nonetheless, BTC’s worth has gone from power to power in March, rising to over $29,000 on March 29. Within the final 30 days, BTC has gained greater than 22%.