Supreme Court Greenlights US to Sell $4.4 Billion in Seized Silk Road Bitcoin
The US Supreme Court may have authorized the US government to move ahead with plans to sell $4.4 billion worth of BTC. This follows after the court recently declined to hear an appeal in the matter concerning the ownership of 69,370 Bitcoin that authorities seized from the dark web marketplace Silk Road. Supreme Court Subtly Approves $4.4 Billion Seized Silk Road Bitcoin Auction In 2022, the US District Court for the Northern District of California had ruled for the government to liquidate the seized Bitcoin under existing laws. However, Battle Born Investments, unimpressed with the court’s decision, sought redress in an appeals court in 2023, which it also lost. This prompted its decision to file a review request with the Supreme Court. According to Battle Born Investments, it had purchased rights to the seized Bitcoin through a bankruptcy estate connected to the Silk Road. Seeing as the US Supreme Court has decided not to hear the case, the decision effectively upholds all the previous ones. This means that the government may now be in the clear to auction off the Bitcoin. Expectations are that the US Marshals Service will handle the liquidation. Although there are still some official moves to be made before the sale can be initiated, this is poised to be one of the largest sales of seized Bitcoin in history. US Ready for Sale But There’s A Debate Over the past few months, the US government has been making moves as if preparing for the sale. The government transferred around $2 billion worth of the seized Silk Road Bitcoin on July 29. The transfers have also been linked to the Marshals Service, which uses Coinbase Prime to custody seized cryptocurrencies. However, the issue of how best to handle the seized Bitcoin has become a point of debate, particularly in the race to the 2024 election. Notably, former President Donald Trump has vowed to retain all government-seized Bitcoin if he is re-elected. He made the statement in July, during the Bitcoin 2024 conference in Nashville.
