US Government Moves $600 Million in Silk Road Bitcoin to Coinbase

The United States government moved nearly $600 million in seized Bitcoin from the Silk Road dark web marketplace to a Coinbase wallet Wednesday, according to Arkham Intelligence.

The government moved 10,000 Bitcoin, worth nearly $594 million at the time of transaction, to a wallet tied to Coinbase Prime. It’s not immediately clear whether the United States plans to sell or custody the assets. The transaction follows a previous move of approximately $2 billion worth of Silk Road Bitcoin in late July.

Bitcoin’s price has since dipped and CoinGecko data shows it is now trading for $59,300—a 3% dip over the past 24 hours. 

Such large shifts of cryptocurrency tend to pique investors’ interest—and sometimes even scare them—as they speculate on what may happen next to the asset. 

But last month, the U.S. Marshals Service (USMS) awarded Coinbase Prime a contract to manage and dispose of its large-cap cryptocurrency assets. The U.S. government may therefore just be moving the seized assets to a new place of custody. 

The U.S. government refused to comment when Decrypt reached out with questions. 

Silk Road was an Internet marketplace that allowed users to—via the anonymous Tor network—buy goods like illegal drugs. 

Its customers used cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin to buy products but authorities shut the website down in 2014 and seized the digital assets the platform had received. 

U.S. authorities have sold chunks of the seized Bitcoin over the years.

Edited by Andrew Hayward

Editor’s note: This story was updated after publication with additional details.