According to a court filing made on March 31, the US government sold 9,861 BTC for over $215 million on March 14, 2023. The sale was part of the liquidation of more than 41,000 BTC seized in connection to Silk Road creator Ross Ulbricht. The government has stated that it expects to sell the remaining seized BTC in four more batches over the course of the year.
The government seized over 50,000 BTC from James Zhong, who pled guilty to wire fraud charges related to executing a scheme to steal Bitcoin from Silk Road in 2012. The defunct Silk Road marketplace was known for allowing the sale of illicit goods, which led to the arrest of its creator Ulbricht in 2013. The price of BTC has been volatile recently, with a low of below $20,000 on March 10 and a high of above $29,000 on March 29. At the time of writing, BTC’s price was $28,378.
