The United States government has announced its plan to auction off more than 51,000 BTC, which were seized during the Silk Road case, in the midst of a global banking crisis.
On March 14th, court documents revealed that the US government had already sold 9,861 BTC, valued at over $215 million. The remaining BTC accounts for more than 50,000 BTC.
In November of last year, Zhong pleaded guilty to stealing Silk Road funds and voluntarily handed over the assets to the US Department of Justice.
The court has stated that it intends to sell all of the confiscated BTC in four separate batches over the course of this year.
Some members of the cryptocurrency community have viewed the auction of these confiscated assets as yet another government attack on the industry.
Despite these concerns, TradingView reported that the first sale of 9,861 BTC had no impact on the current price of bitcoin and, in fact, showed an increase in value, with bitcoin now trading at $28,444.
Many investors are still seeking to maintain their cryptocurrency assets outside of the traditional financial system.
In March, analysts from 21Shares reported that the President’s office and various US federal agencies could potentially have access to at least 205,000 BTC.