The US government missed out on at least $5.1 billion in profits from the “hasty” sale of bitcoins confiscated from criminals. Jameson Lopp, CTO of the Casa startup, drew attention to this.
Did you know that the US Government has seized and sold over 185,000 BTC since 2014? See how much better off they would have fared had they decided to HODL: https://t.co/jn6hAMbj1I
— Jameson Lopp (@lopp) March 20, 2023
He referred to a published by the United States Marshals Service (USMS) statisticsaccording to which since 2014 the authorities have confiscated and sold at auctions more than 185,000 BTC for $151.5 million.
At the same time, the current value of this number of bitcoins is $5.2 billion.
“Look how much better they would live if they decided to hodle,” Lopp wrote.
Most of the bitcoins listed refer to funds seized from the closed darknet marketplace Silk Road. The USMS confiscated more than 144,000 BTC from the creator of the platform, Ross Ulbricht, which was valued at $122 million at the time. The agency also gained control of 29,000 BTC from various wallets related to Silk Road.
The last item on the list is 69,370 BTC associated with the marketplace (approximately $1 billion at the time of seizure), confiscated in November 2020 by the US Department of Justice. Since they have not yet been realized, their real cost is not currently determined.
Additionally, the list includes 500 BTC seized by the authorities of the Northern District of Ohio as part of a fraud case, and a number of other assets.
Recall that as of November 2020, an address containing 69,370 BTC from Silk Road was considered the fourth largest bitcoin holder in the world. At the moment it is located in eighth place.
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