US government moves nearly 20k BTC worth $1.92b

A wallet linked to the U.S. government has moved nearly $2 billion worth of Bitcoin to a new address, according to blockchain intelligence and on-chain data platform Arkham.

Per Akham, the transfer of nearly 20,000 Bitcoin (BTC) happened on Dec. 2 and was valued at approximately $1.92 billion. The U.S.-government labelled wallet moved the BTC to an unidentified wallet before the chunk was split into two addresses.

In one wallet, it sent 10k BTC worth $969 million at the time and to another transferred over 9,800 BTC worth over $949 million. The bitcoin is tied to what the U.S. Department of Justice seized from the Silk Road, the now-defunct dark web market founded by the incarcerated Ross Ulbricht.

This isn’t the first time the U.S government has transferred Bitcoin to new addresses or exchange.

In July this year, a wallet Arkham identified as belonging to the U.S. government moved and split $2B billion worth of Bitcoin into two addresses. The over 29,800 BTC was also from the Silk Road related forfeiture. This transfer came amid increased BTC selling as price heaved amid sell-off pressure.

While Arkham hasn’t commented on what this latest movement of coins under the U.S. government, it did point to the July transfer as deposits to an institutional custody or service. Earlier in the year, the U.S. Marshals Service disclosed its use of Coinbase for custodial services.

According to Arkham, the U.S. government holds more than 188k BTC worth $18.2 billion as of Dec. 2. U.S. President-elect Donald Trump has pledged to support a Bitcoin strategic reserve.