Another batch of bitcoins (BTC) seized from the Silk Road cryptocurrency exchange was sent by the US government to Coinbase's professional custody service, bringing the total to 40,000 BTC under the custody of the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the country.
According to market analysis firm Arkham Intelligence, a movement of 10,000 BTC, valued at just over USD 590 million, was recorded this Wednesday, August 14. The transfer was made from a wallet linked to the US government to a deposit wallet on the Coinbase Prime service.
Arkham explains that two weeks ago, a first transfer of 10,000 BTC was recorded from a government wallet to a traditional wallet. It was this Wednesday when that wallet transferred the BTC to Coinbase's custody service.
The transfer of 10,000 BTC to Coinbase Prime was made on August 14. Source: Arkham Intelligence.
With this move, more than 40,000 BTC from the Silk Road case are now in the custody of the largest exchange in the United States. Last April, a movement of almost 30,000 BTC from Silk Road seized by the US to Coinbase Prime was recorded.
The custody service received thousands of bitcoins seized from the failed darknet sales site, valued at the time at more than $2 billion.
Recently, at the end of July, the US also moved a lot of bitcoins belonging to the Silk Road case. 30,000 in total. At the time, the Arkham firm itself reported that two separate transactions were made , one destined for a custodial service and another to an unidentified entity.
The movements of the BTC confiscated from Silk Road come after former president and candidate Donald Trump announced his intention to create a strategic reserve in BTC for the United States if he is elected in November. The businessman indicated that this treasury will be made up of the bitcoins seized in police procedures.
It should be recalled that, according to Arkham Intelligence, the US has more than 119 thousand bitcoins from the Silk Road case in custody. These are added to thousands more, for a total of more than 213,000 bitcoins in the control of the US government, according to the tracking site BitcoinTreasuries.
For those who don't know about Silk Road: it was a darknet marketplace that used BTC as its primary means of exchange. The site was shut down in 2013 after the FBI arrested its CEO, Ross Ulbricht. He was sentenced to life in prison for money laundering, hacking, and drug trafficking conspiracy.
