[2017-12-15]USA to Sell $10m of BTC and BTH

[DowBit]

Earlier in the week, we reported that Bulgaria discovered they had $3 b in bitcoin seized during an organized crime bust. US law enforcement has bitcoin assets obtained in a similar way. Authorities have announced plans to sell confiscated BTC and BCH.

US plans Bitcoin Sale
The U. S. government plans to sell Bitcoins confiscated during an investigation. At present, they are worth around $10 million. Utah Government Prosecutors are working on the quickest possible sale. According to the court’s order, BTC and BCH were transferred to the government portfolio. Due to the high volatility and potential for asset depreciation, the United States will strive to sell assets as soon as possible.

The government plans to sell the digital assets through several commercial exchanges. They will also be subdivided into smaller batches, approximately 50 pieces each, to protect against loss or fraud.

More: https://dowbit.com/usa-sell-btc-bch/

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[sindikat]

I heard that the US government is a very large number of confiscated bitcoins. $ 10 million is very little. The fact that the government keeps the asset for a long time convinces me that they also expect a further growth of bitcoin. This means that we need to keep our coins. All the words of the US government that bitcoin is a bubble is a lie.

[1Referee]

Due to the high volatility and potential for asset depreciation, the United States will strive to sell assets as soon as possible.

Of course, profits should be taken when the price is on the far higher side in comparison to the value of the moment the coins were "obtained".

The government plans to sell the digital assets through several commercial exchanges.

This is quite a new development. Instead of setting up their own auctions, basically anyone could now try to buy these coins up. However, if you dig a bit deeper, the seized coins won't get sold at all, but distributed to people withdrawing coins from the exchanges the authorities are cooperating with, what a honor.  

They will also be subdivided into smaller batches, approximately 50 pieces each, to protect against loss or fraud.

Great to see that the government, which is a criminal as well, is looking to protect itself against other criminals/fraudsters, how ironic.

[darkangel11]

I heard that the US government is a very large number of confiscated bitcoins. $ 10 million is very little.

Stolen, not confiscated, let's call things as they are. It's just a fancy word to distinguish the act of one person stealing from another and a group of people with power doing exactly the same thing.
They had more but put it on auction a number of times. There was that famous case of silk road coins being auctioned back when the prices were just a fraction of what they are now. Those people made a lot of money if they were smart enough to hold. On the other hand they made money by buying stolen coins from the biggest cartel in the world - the US gov.

[J. Cooper]

I heard that the US government is a very large number of confiscated bitcoins. $ 10 million is very little.

Stolen, not confiscated, let's call things as they are. It's just a fancy word to distinguish the act of one person stealing from another and a group of people with power doing exactly the same thing.
They had more but put it on auction a number of times. There was that famous case of silk road coins being auctioned back when the prices were just a fraction of what they are now. Those people made a lot of money if they were smart enough to hold. On the other hand they made money by buying stolen coins from the biggest cartel in the world - the US gov.

The US government did a lot of illegal things in the process of taking down the infamous Silk Road. But the US government doing unauthorized things isn't something new at all. On the bright side I'm just happy the majority of those coins that were auctioned off, atleast they aren't in the possession of the gov anymore.

[BitHodler]

It's a relatively low number of coins, but with quite a significant value. I remember how people were laughing at others for calling ~500-600BTC orders a buy/sell wall, while right now it might take a while to eat or dump through.

That's likely the reason they prefer to spread their sale out over several exchanges at the same time instead of just one. They definitely did their research when it comes to liquidating a bunch of (in their eyes) rubbish coins.

I am suspecting that current levels might drive the US government to plan a few more raids in the near future since it's insanely lucrative considering how little they have to do for a big payout in return.

[marckenigsberg]

That's actually a scary idea.
As bitcoin price increases so does the incentive to seize more coins

[atileture]

many say US have more than 100,000 bitcoin and also some IP from satoshi from USA.

if this real US can have some control of price and may make price down fast

[richardsNY]

many say US have more than 100,000 bitcoin and also some IP from satoshi from USA.

if this real US can have some control of price and may make price down fast

That was way back in the days. These coins have been auctioned off in batches. But even if the US government does have that many in seized coins, I think you should worry more about evil minded entities such as Mark Karpeles, Roger Ver and Jihan Wu. Very recently we have seen articles hit the internet stating that the Bulgarian government has around $3 billion worth of Bitcoin assets confiscated. And honestly, I don't think these are the only entities holding an insane number of coins. In easy terms, your worry about the US government holding x number of coins is unnecessary.