The U.S. government was approved to sell $6.5 billion in Bitcoin seized from the “Silk Road”. Trump promised to be embarrassed, and industry insiders said they were ready to buy the dip.

Author: Weilin, PANews

On January 9, according to DB News, the U.S. Department of Justice has been approved to sell $6.5 billion worth of Bitcoin seized from the “Silk Road” darknet market. As soon as the news came to light, the price of Bitcoin fell from US$950,000 to below US$940,000. As of 13:05 on January 9, it rebounded to US$94,258, down 1.93% on the day.

It is worth noting that this news came to light less than two weeks before the new Trump administration officially took office. Trump vowed at last year’s Bitcoin Conference that he would not let the U.S. government sell any Bitcoin and promised to The currency is listed as a U.S. strategic reserve asset.

But for now, the ruling alone does not guarantee an immediate liquidation, as U.S. federal asset forfeiture involves multiple administrative steps and potential appeal windows. According to the analysis of the on-chain monitoring platform, it is expected that it will take several months for the US government to start liquidating the Bitcoin seized from the "Silk Road", and the analysis also generally believes that the selling pressure will be quickly digested by the market.

Justice Department cleared to liquidate Bitcoin seized by Silk Road

On October 7 last year, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear Battle Born Investments’ case regarding the ownership of 69,370 BTC (approximately $4.33 billion) seized from Silk Road, giving the government full control of the seized funds. The court’s decision likely paves the way for the U.S. government to sell these Bitcoins. At the time, those Bitcoins were valued at $4.4 billion. The U.S. Marshals Service is expected to manage the liquidation process. Once confirmed, this would be one of the largest sales of seized cryptocurrency in history.

According to DB News, here are the key takeaways from the incident:

· Officially confirmed that a U.S. federal judge ruled on December 30, 2024 that the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) can sell 69,370 Bitcoins seized from the “Silk Road” darknet market.

· Ending a years-long dispute over the ownership of these seized Bitcoins, Battle Born Investments failed to delay the sale. The company had claimed to own the bitcoins through a bankruptcy estate and lost a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit that failed to reveal the identity of "Mr.

· Attorneys for Battle Born called the matter "another example of the Department of Justice's abuse of civil asset forfeiture proceedings" and accused the government of "relying on procedural maneuvers to ensure the truth never comes to light."

· The U.S. Department of Justice pushed for permission to sell the assets, citing Bitcoin price volatility. When asked about next steps, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Justice said: "The government will continue to move forward based on the judgment in this case."

· The seized Bitcoins are currently valued at approximately $6.5 billion.

The court’s ruling effectively upheld a 2022 decision by the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, ordering the government to liquidate these Bitcoins under current law. The case was brought by Battle Born Investments, which argued it acquired the rights to the bitcoins through a bankruptcy estate related to Silk Road. Battle Born said the bitcoins were stolen by an individual known as "Individual X" who allegedly stole the funds from Silk Road.

With less than two weeks to go before the Trump administration takes

office, its encryption commitments face an embarrassment

Dramatically, this comes less than two weeks before the new Trump administration in the United States officially takes office. Trump has vowed not to sell any Bitcoin.

As early as July last year, when Trump attended the Bitcoin Conference, he stated that he would reduce the sentence of Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht. Ulbricht was sentenced to life in prison for running the "Silk Road Market," a dark web where customers used virtual currency to buy illegal drugs and hacking tools.

At the Bitcoin Conference last year, Trump vowed that if he could return to the White House, he would ensure that the government retains 100% of the Bitcoins it owns and would list Bitcoin as a U.S. strategic reserve asset. “For too long, our government has been violating a cardinal rule that every Bitcoin player knows by heart: Never sell your Bitcoins,” Trump said during a keynote speech at a Bitcoin conference in Nashville. .

Silk Road was the first modern darknet market. In 2011, it was founded by its American founder Ross Ulbricht under the pseudonym "Dread Pirate Roberts". The market operates as a hidden service through the Tor network, allowing users to buy and sell goods and services anonymously. All transactions are conducted using Bitcoin. The site is known for its marketplace for illegal drugs, in addition to other illegal and legal goods. From February 2011 to July 2013, a total of approximately 95,200 Bitcoins were traded on Silk Road.

In October 2013, the FBI shut down the Silk Road website and arrested Ulbricht. In November of the same year, Silk Road 2.0 was launched and operated by other administrators of the original website, but it was shut down again the following year due to "Operation Onymous". In 2015, Ross Ulbricht was found guilty in federal court on multiple counts of operating Silk Road and sentenced to two life sentences without the possibility of parole.

Industry executives: Appeal not to panic, the moment of bargain hunting

may come

On January 9th, on-chain analyst Trader T said on the

In addition, Spot On Chain stated that the U.S. government currently holds approximately 197,000 BTC. Because the previous sales were completed through over-the-counter transactions, it did not directly affect the price, but the market panic caused may cause the price to drop temporarily.

HODL15Capital mentioned in its analysis that it has been confirmed on the chain that the BTC held by the United States has not been transferred or sold.

CryptoQuant CEO Ki Young Ju posted on "

On January 9, regarding the fact that the U.S. Department of Justice was allowed to sell $6.5 billion of seized darknet Silk Road Bitcoins, BitMEX co-founder Arthur Hayes posted on the X platform that diamond players are ready to buy the bottom.