After the US dumped $215 million worth of seized bitcoins on the market last month, traders are bracing for another $1 billion bitcoin sale this year
Bitcoin, ethereum, and other major cryptocurrencies soared during the first quarter of 2023, making bitcoin the best-performing asset by a significant margin and placing crypto at a “crunch time.”
The bitcoin price nearly doubled from its late-2022 lows as the market bets the Federal Reserve could be about to reverse rate policy (although the world’s biggest asset manager issued a dire warning). ). The price of etherem rose along with bitcoin and other top ten cryptocurrencies: BNB, XRP, cardano, dogecoinpolygon and solana.
Now, after the United States dumped $215 million worth of seized bitcoin onto the market last month, bitcoin and crypto traders are poised for the sale of just over $1 billion worth of bitcoin later this year.
The nearly 10,000 bitcoins sold by the US government in March are part of a haul of 50,000 bitcoins seized following the November arrest of James Zhong, who pleaded guilty to wire fraud after the government alleged he had tampered with the US transaction system. Silk Road dark web market in 2012.
The remaining 41,000 bitcoin – worth $1.1 billion – “are expected to be settled in four more batches later this year,” according to the court filing. In March, it was observed that bitcoin from the wallets associated with the funds seized from Silk Road had been transferred to a Coinbase address, which received almost 10,000 bitcoin.
The move spooked the market, as the United States has historically preferred to sell seized bitcoins and cryptocurrencies through public auctions.]
The bitcoin and cryptocurrency market is also watching for any sign of how the US Federal Reserve will act when it meets to decide interest rates in early May.
“With concerns about the US banking system easing, market concern is once again on the Fed’s rate hike decision in May,” said Yuya Hasegawa, a crypto market analyst at Bitbank based in Tokyo, in an emailed note.
“Bitcoin could retest $29,000, but it needs to close above that level to call it a breakout, otherwise it could be another fake-out,” Hasegawa added. *With information from Forbes US.