US Government to Auction $4.4 Billion in Bitcoin After Major Legal Victory!

The US Supreme Court has ended a legal battle over the confiscation of 69,370 bitcoins from the Silk Road dark web market. These BTC are worth around 4.4 billion dollars. The court refused to accept the case, opening the way for the US government to sell these bitcoins. Let's take a look at what happened and what's next.

The claim that war was born fell short

The legal tussle centered around the claims of Battle Born Investments, a company that argued it had legal rights to the bitcoin it held. They built their case against a man named Raymond Ngan, who acquired the properties, claiming it was a bankrupt estate. Battleborn believed that Ngan was the infamous “Individual X” who stole bitcoins from Silk Road before handing over the stolen money to authorities. But the federal and appellate courts rejected these claims.

The Dark Web and Bitcoin Connection

To help you understand the importance of this issue, let us share with you a summary of this 2013 Silk Road issue. Ross Ulbricht founded the Silk Road Forum in 2011, which was notorious for being a hub for illegal activities. The Tor network hosted the website, where people could buy anything illegal, from drugs to weapons, by paying with bitcoins. At its peak, the Silk Road had millions of dollars in transactions. In the year In 2013, the FBI shut down the marketplace and arrested Ulbricht.

The seized bitcoin was tied to transactions on the platform, leading to this moment with the government. Adding another twist to the story, the IRS later tracked down several btc transactions from “Individual X,” a hacker authorities had previously shut down who stole bitcoin from Silk Road. The US government has finally seized those funds in the biggest cryptocurrency seizure to date.

What's Next for Bitcoin?

Now that the Supreme Court has refused to hear the case, the US government can sell the seized BTC. The US Marshals Service oversees the sale. Some funds have been transferred to Coinbase Prime. It looks like they are ready to sell bitcoins at auction. This sale could have wider implications not only for the crypto market, but also for the US political environment.

During the Bitcoin Conference 2024 in Nashville, presidential candidate Donald Trump shared his plans for these bitcoin holdings. He shared his idea of ​​creating a “Strategic Bitcoin Reserve” for the US using the seized BTC, suggesting that the current administration, like the German government, hold Bitcoin instead of selling it.