US Court Completes Seizure of 69,000 Bitcoin (BTC) from Silk Road Marketplace ⋆ ZyCrypto

A US appeals court has concluded legal proceedings to officially seize 69,370 Bitcoin (BTC) and other cryptocurrencies from the closed darknet marketplace Silk Road.

Although the ruling for this massive Bitcoin decline was handed down in August of this year, it has now taken effect, according to a December 20 filing with the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. The seizure is the second largest seizure in the history of the US Department of Justice and, in addition to BTC, also included cryptos such as Bitcoin Cash (BCH), Bitcoin Gold (BTG) and Bitcoin SV (BSV).

The lawsuit named the U.S. government as plaintiffs, along with two plaintiffs, Ilija Matukso and Battle Born Investment Company. Silk Road operator Ross Ulbricht, who is serving a double life sentence and a 40-year sentence without the possibility of parole, was named as the defendant.

The US Department of Justice seized a large stash of BTC after hacker James Zhong confessed to stealing digital assets from the Silk Road marketplace. Since Bitcoin is currently trading for $43,810, the 69,370 coins are worth approximately $3,039,099,700. After Zhong handed it over, the government was already in control of the Silk Road-linked cryptocurrency and was selling the cryptocurrency piece by piece. US authorities disposed of around 10,000 Bitcoins in March, representing a sale worth $215.7 million.

Crypto traders tend to keep an eye on large and well-known BTC holders like the US government-controlled wallet because when they move large amounts of money, it negatively affects the price of the asset.

However, worries about government selling pressure ahead of a possible spot Bitcoin ETF approval and Bitcoin rewards halving in April 2024 continue to not worry investors. Analysts at Bitwise believe that these two key catalysts could catapult the price of Bitcoin to $80,000 next year.

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