According to a memo filed Friday in the Southern District of New York, on March 14th the U.S. sold 9,861.1707894 of the 50,000 of bitcoinbitcoin +2.1% it seized in the case of a hack of the Silk Road marketplace. The government raked in $215.5 million after transaction fees. The per-coin sale price of about $21,877 was $2,000 less than the going rate on that particular day. The sale didn’t appear to impact bitcoin’s price, which gained 2.43% the day of the transaction. Bitcoin’s value currently sits at around $28,000, so maybe the government could have timed the market a little better.
Twitter had a bit of fun at the government’s paying $215,000 in transaction fees — about 0.1% of the total amount sold. It seems traders for the U.S. could learn a thing or two from the crypto community about minimizing costs. For example, Gemini, the crypto exchange run by the billionaire Winklevoss twins, advertises that it charges 0% in fees for sales of this size, assuming the seller is willing to be what’s known as a “market maker,” or justjust +2.7% 0.04% if they want to be a “taker.”
The sale is part of the case against James Zhong, who was accused of committing wire fraud in September 2012 for illegally obtaining over 50,000 bitcoin from the Silk Road internet marketplace. Zhong pled guilty in November 2022 and is set to be sentenced next month.