The United States government moved nearly $600 million in seized Bitcoin from the Silk Road dark web marketplace to a Coinbase wallet Wednesday, according to Arkham Intelligence.

The government moved 10,000 Bitcoin, worth nearly $594 million at the time of transaction, to a wallet tied to Coinbase Prime. It's not immediately clear whether the United States plans to sell or custody the assets. The transaction follows a previous move of approximately $2 billion worth of Silk Road Bitcoin in late July.

Bitcoin's price has since dipped and CoinGecko data shows it is now trading for $59,300—a 3% dip over the past 24 hours. 

Such large shifts of cryptocurrency tend to pique investors' interest—and sometimes even scare them—as they speculate on what may happen next to the asset. 

But last month, the U.S. Marshals Service (USMS) awarded Coinbase Prime a contract to manage and dispose of its large-cap cryptocurrency assets. The U.S. government may therefore just be moving the seized assets to a new place of custody. 

Bitcoin
BTC
+4.69%$108,028.91
24H7D1M1YMAX
Created with Highcharts 10.3.3Jun 6Jun 8Jun 10Jun 12Jun 14Jun 16Jun 18Jun 20Jun 22Jun 24Jun 26Jun 28Jun 30Jul 2Jul 4Jul 6$97500$100000$102500$105000$107500$110000$112500
Price data by
BTC price

The U.S. government refused to comment when Decrypt reached out with questions. 

Silk Road was an Internet marketplace that allowed users to—via the anonymous Tor network—buy goods like illegal drugs. 

US Government Preparing to Sell Silk Road Bitcoin Again? Here’s What’s Going On

The U.S. government is moving its Silk Road Bitcoin stash again. Crypto wallets belonging to the Department of Justice on Wednesday moved $300 million in BTC to new addresses in two transactions. The feds hold Bitcoin that's been seized from criminals and sometimes move it around. In the past, they've done so because they intend to sell it—but not always. It is likely this stash comes from its biggest seizure yet: In November 2021 cops took $3.36 billion in BTC after hacker James Zhong confesse...

NewsBusiness
2 min read
Mat Di Salvo

Its customers used cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin to buy products but authorities shut the website down in 2014 and seized the digital assets the platform had received. 

U.S. authorities have sold chunks of the seized Bitcoin over the years.

Edited by Andrew Hayward

Editor's note: This story was updated after publication with additional details.

Daily Debrief Newsletter

Start every day with the top news stories right now, plus original features, a podcast, videos and more.