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Bitcoin ‘Silk Road’ Sent to Exchange Declared ‘Illegal,’ Enrages Cryptocurrency Supporter
Yuri Molchan
John Deaton Slams SEC, Gary Gensler for US Government’s ‘Foolishness’ of Selling Bitcoin on Coinbase
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Cryptocurrency advocate John Deaton (who specifically supports Bitcoin and XRP) took to his social media platform X to share his opinion on the recent quarter-million-dollar Bitcoin transaction made by The US government at the Coinbase exchange.
This was part of the funds confiscated in 2013 from the Silk Road dark web marketplace, when it was shut down and its founder Ross Ulbricht was arrested and sentenced to two life sentences.
Deaton said this does not coincide with the SEC’s recent policy of declaring Coinbase illegal.
Gary Gensler Declares Coinbase ‘Illegal’
Deaton reminded the community that U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Gary Gensler has “declared war” on Coinbase by labeling its business illegal for trading altcoins, which he calls “unregistered securities,” laying out his allegations against the exchange in June last year.
In response, Coinbase filed a lawsuit against the regulator. However, what has now happened is that the US government has sent 3,940 BTC worth approximately $241.22 million to this exact exchange to be sold. This money It was initially confiscated by a drug trafficker on the Silk Road, only to be confiscated during the trial in January 2024.
John Deaton called this move “nonsense coming from our government” as it allows Gary Gensler and Senator Warren to oppose the entire cryptocurrency space, but continues to use the services of the largest US-based cryptocurrency exchange, Coinbase Prime. Previously, a similar sale occurred in March last year, when the US government wallet sold 9,861 coins for $216 million.
Bitcoin price dropped due to selling
According to cryptocurrency journalist Colin Wu, after the above transaction, the US government still owns 213,546 BTC confiscated from Silk Road, worth over $13 billion.
The founder of on-chain data aggregator CryptoQuant believes that this sale is unlikely to have an impact on the price of Bitcoin on the market. However, this sale coincided with a 1.76% drop in the price of Bitcoin. the world’s leading cryptocurrency it plunged from $61,778 to the $60,688 level. By now, BTC has recovered slightly and is trading at $61,260 at the time of writing.
About the author
Yuri Molchan
Yuri is interested in technology and technical innovations. He has been writing about DLT and cryptocurrencies since 2017. He believes that blockchain and cryptocurrencies have the potential to transform the world in the future in many aspects of it. He has written for several crypto media. His articles have been cited by cryptocurrency influencers such as Tyler Winklevoss, John McAfee, CZ Binance, Max Keizer, etc.