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U.S. Government Sold $216M of Seized Silk Road Bitcoin This Month
The government will sell the remaining 41,490 BTC in four tranches this year.
Updated May 9, 2023, 4:11 a.m. Published Mar 31, 2023, 3:53 p.m.
The U.S. government sold 9,861.17 bitcoin (BTC) for almost $216 million on March 14, a court filing shows.
The bitcoin sold is part of the 50,000 BTC seized in November following the arrest of James Zhong, who pleaded guilty to wire fraud after the government alleged he manipulated the transaction system on darknet market Silk Road in 2012. At the time, the government hailed it as the largest cryptocurrency seizure.
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The government intends to liquidate the remaining 41,490 bitcoins in four tranches over the course of this calendar year, the filing said.
Crypto traders were spooked after seeing U.S. authorities transfer over $200 million worth of bitcoin to Coinbase (COIN) on March 9. Bitcoin's price was volatile as a result, rising as much as 9.7% in a 24-hour period before returning to where it was before.
Now, however, bitcoin traders remain unperturbed by renewed concerns of selling pressure from the U.S. government, as the cryptocurrency continues to trade around $28,000.
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Exchange Review - March 2025
CoinDesk Data's monthly Exchange Review captures the key developments within the cryptocurrency exchange market. The report includes analyses that relate to exchange volumes, crypto derivatives trading, market segmentation by fees, fiat trading, and more.
What to know:
Trading activity softened in March as market uncertainty grew amid escalating tariff tensions between the U.S. and global trading partners. Centralized exchanges recorded their lowest combined trading volume since October, declining 6.24% to $6.79tn. This marked the third consecutive monthly decline across both market segments, with spot trading volume falling 14.1% to $1.98tn and derivatives trading slipping 2.56% to $4.81tn.
- Trading Volumes Decline for Third Consecutive Month: Combined spot and derivatives trading volume on centralized exchanges fell by 6.24% to $6.79tn in March 2025, reaching the lowest level since October. Both spot and derivatives markets recorded their third consecutive monthly decline, falling 14.1% and 2.56% to $1.98tn and $4.81tn respectively.
- Institutional Crypto Trading Volume on CME Falls 23.5%: In March, total derivatives trading volume on the CME exchange fell by 23.5% to $175bn, the lowest monthly volume since October 2024. CME's market share among derivatives exchanges dropped from 4.63% to 3.64%, suggesting declining institutional interest amid current macroeconomic conditions.
- Bybit Spot Market Share Slides in March: Spot trading volume on Bybit fell by 52.1% to $81.1bn in March, coinciding with decreased trading activity following the hack of the exchange's cold wallets in February. Bybit's spot market share dropped from 7.35% to 4.10%, its lowest since July 2023.
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