2024

Donald Trump

Bitcoin

Silk Road

<p class="is-style-lead">Scott Johnsson, a general partner and general counsel at Van Buren Capital, believes the U.S. government’s recent move to transfer Bitcoin linked to the defunct Silk Road online marketplace to a Coinbase address means the funds are on the verge of being sold.</p> 
<p>In an Aug. 16 post on X, the financial lawyer suggested that there was a high possibility the U.S. Marshal Service, the agency <a href="https://www.justice.gov/criminal/criminal-afmls/file/839521/dl" target="_blank" rel="">mandated</a> to dispose of digital assets seized and forfeited from criminal activity, was likely in the process of selling Bitcoin (<a href="https://crypto.news/price/bitcoin/" target="_blank" data-type="link" data-id="https://crypto.news/price/bitcoin/" rel="noreferrer noopener">BTC</a>) seized from the Silk Road marketplace.</p> 
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   <p lang="en" dir="ltr">Yes, US Marshal Service (USMS) is almost certainly selling silk road bitcoin. Joey is right (at least in the present). USMS has been sending BTC to a custodial address required by the terms of the servicing agreement that USMS entered into with Coinbase in June. Given the…</p>— Scott Johnsson (@SGJohnsson) <a href="https://twitter.com/SGJohnsson/status/1824285716286751214?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" target="_blank" rel="">August 16, 2024</a>
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<p>Johnsson was responding to a post from Founders Fund co-founder Joey Krug, who had shared data from Bitcoin explorer Tokenview, showing more than 19,000 BTC that had been moved into a Coinbase account. The lawyer seemed to agree with Krug’s assertion that the coins were the remaining Silk Road stash yet to be sold.&nbsp;</p> 
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   <p lang="en" dir="ltr">US govt Silk Road coins remaining to be sold:<a href="https://t.co/JETXXzg4cg" target="_blank" rel="">https://t.co/JETXXzg4cg</a></p>— Joey Krug (@joeykrug) <a href="https://twitter.com/joeykrug/status/1824181749997261216?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" target="_blank" rel="">August 15, 2024</a>
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<p>Johnsson’s assertion comes soon after the U.S. government transferred about $594 million worth of Bitcoin seized from Silk Road to a Coinbase Prime address, according to <a href="https://mempool.space/tx/a224c1658e4e4c1c0480312aea6c6102dbd5ec912810c799998a4d2f00741b0d" target="_blank" rel="">data</a> from Arkham Intelligence.</p> 
<p> You might also like: <a href="https://crypto.news/donald-trump-announces-pro-crypto-transition-team/"> Donald Trump announces pro-crypto transition team </a> </p> 
<p>Silk Road founder Ross William Ulbricht was arrested shortly after the marketplace was shut down in 2013. </p> 
<p>The original site’s administrators then launched a new website, Silk Road 2.0, but a special police task force also closed it down in 2014.</p> 
<p>According to Johnsson, the USMS has been transferring assets to the custodial address as per an established servicing agreement with Coinbase that was made in June. </p> 
<p>The lawyer claimed that the agreement requires that USMS assets remain completely segregated, with any transfers to commingled exchange addresses like Coinbase Prime meaning that the agency was likely preparing to <a href="https://crypto.news/u-s-government-to-sell-over-131m-in-bitcoin-seized-from-silk-road/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">sell</a> the BTC assets.</p> 
<p>In his post, the lawyer shared snapshots of the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of Inspector General <a href="https://oig.justice.gov/sites/default/files/reports/22-082.pdf" target="_blank" rel="">report</a>, which showed that the USMS’s Complex Assets Unit was required to liquidate assets within five business days after they had been forfeited.</p> 
<p>Johnsson anticipates the official confirmation of the sale could come with the DOJ’s asset forfeiture program fiscal year 2024 report, due in January 2025.&nbsp;</p> 
<p>Interestingly, he noted that the USMS’s move to dispose of the Silk Road Bitcoin came after former U.S. President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump’s recent speech in which he promised <a href="https://crypto.news/why-is-donald-trump-calling-on-the-government-not-to-sell-bitcoin/" data-type="link" data-id="https://crypto.news/why-is-donald-trump-calling-on-the-government-not-to-sell-bitcoin/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">not to sell</a> any of the Bitcoin held by the government if he were to win a second term. </p> 
<p>The U.S. reportedly holds about $12 billion in BTC, making it the largest government holder of the cryptocurrency, which currently has a market cap of $1.17 trillion. </p> 
<p> Read more: <a href="https://crypto.news/kamala-harris-surges-ahead-on-polymarket-trump-falters-as-traders-bet-big/"> Kamala Harris surges ahead on Polymarket, Trump falters as traders bet big </a> </p>

US Marshals likely selling Silk Road Bitcoin: Van Buren Capital’s Scott Johnsson

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