US Government Moves Millions in Seized Bitcoin

Just days after Germany announced that it made nearly $2.9 billion in an “unprecedented” sale of seized Bitcoin, the United States has started moving some of its own seized coins—though it’s not yet clear whether the government is actively working to sell them.

On-chain data from Arkham Intelligence shows that the U.S. government transferred just shy of $4 million worth of Bitcoin—or 58.742 BTC—on Monday afternoon to an unlabeled wallet. The original wallet has now been emptied.

As noted, it’s unclear whether the government is moving the Bitcoin to sell it, or perhaps simply managing its funds by transferring the BTC to another, unidentified wallet. But we do know where the seized funds came from, and what the government might be doing with them.

According to a wallet label from Arkham, the funds were seized from Ryan Farace, who was convicted in 2028 for selling Xanax pills through dark web marketplaces such as Silk Road using the name Xanaxman. He forfeited just 24 BTC then, claiming that he no longer could access further funds that the government said he’d earned through the scheme.

However, while serving a prison sentence, Farace was then indicted and later convicted for directing his father, Joseph Farace (also convicted), to transfer 2,874 Bitcoin to a third party to move them outside of the United States.

Ultimately, the U.S. Department of Justice successfully recovered 2,933 BTC from the Farace family and said back in January that it would sell the seized Bitcoin.

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The amount moved today represents a small portion of the total amount seized from Ryan Farace and his father. But it’s the exact amount referenced in a DOJ press release from January: “On May 11, 2021, the government seized 58.742155166 Bitcoin that was also proceeds of R. Farace’s drug trafficking.”

The United States government still holds some $15 billion worth of cryptocurrency in its wallets, nearly $14.6 billion of which is held in Bitcoin.

Decrypt reached out to both Arkham and the Department of Justice about the Bitcoin transfer, but did not immediately hear back from either.

Edited by Ryan Ozawa.