U.S. Government Transfers $2 Billion Worth of Bitcoin Days After Trump’s Pro-Crypto Speech
U.S. Government Transfers 29,800 Silk Road Bitcoins Worth $2 Billion, Causing Crypto Stocks to Fall as Bitcoin Dips Below $70,000; Move Contradicts Trump’s Bitcoin 2024 Conference Pledge.
Key Takeaways:
- The U.S. government transferred 29,800 Bitcoins, worth $2 billion, from funds seized from Silk Road.
- Crypto stocks fell as Bitcoin dipped after breaching $70,000.
- The transfer contradicts Trump's pledge at the Bitcoin 2024 Conference not to sell government-held Bitcoin.
On July 29, blockchain analysis platform Arkham Intelligence detected a movement of 29,800 Bitcoins from a wallet associated with the U.S. government to an unknown address. The transferred funds were part of the 174,000 BTC seized from the dark web marketplace Silk Road in 2022.
U.S. Government Bitcoin Transfer Contradicts Trump's Promises
The transfer occurred two days after Trump's speech at the Bitcoin Conference, where he promised that the U.S. would never sell its Bitcoin holdings if he were re-elected.
The cryptocurrency market reacted swiftly to these developments as shares of crypto firms fell on Monday following the Bitcoin dip.
The Bitcoin price, currently trading at 66,890, fell by 3.97% in the last 24 hours after briefly surpassing the $70,000 mark for the first time since mid-June.
Coinbase's shares (COIN) also closed the day 3.59% lower after initially climbing 5% in morning trading.
COIN is down by 3.59% /Source: Google Finance
Other crypto-related stocks also suffered losses, including MicroStrategy (MSTR) down 3.87%, and Bitcoin miners CleanSpark (CLSK), Bitfarms (BITF), and Riot Platforms (RIOT) falling 4.85%, 5.9%, and 5.09%, respectively.
These losses erased the gains made after Trump's pro-crypto speech at the Bitcoin 2024 Conference.
At the conference, Trump positioned himself as the pro-Bitcoin candidate ahead of the November election.
He promised to create a national “stockpile” of Bitcoin using crypto currently held by the U.S. government, fire the SEC chair, and implement friendlier regulations for the cryptocurrency industry.
His stance contrasts sharply with the perceived hostile regulatory environment under the Biden administration.
Silk Road Bitcoin Transfer: More Questions Than Answers
But, just as the market was rallying behind Trump's promises, the U.S. government transferred $2 billion worth of Bitcoin, wiping out those gains. This move sparked debate in the crypto community, with Galaxy Digital CEO Mike Novogratz calling it “tone deaf” on social media.
While there is an argument that the transfer could be related to a July 1 agreement between Coinbase and the U.S. Marshals Service to “safeguard” government crypto assets, others speculate on potential reasons behind the transfer, given that the U.S. government currently holds $12 billion in Bitcoin.
Notably, the transferred Bitcoin originates from the Silk Road case, a significant event in cryptocurrency history.
Silk Road, operated by Ross Ulbricht, was shut down by federal authorities in 2013. Ulbricht was subsequently convicted and sentenced to life in prison in 2015.
However, Trump's promise to pardon Ulbricht has reignited discussions about the case and its implications for the crypto industry.
Jimmy Aki
Drawing from his background in economics, Jimmy has monitored blockchain development for years, firmly believing in its power to democratise finance. Beyond offering commentary on the latest crypto developments, he also spends his time analysing open-source codes of promising projects on GitHub. Jimmy holds Bitcoin and Ethereum.
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U.S. Government Transfers $2 Billion Worth of Bitcoin Days After Trump’s Pro-Crypto Speech
