Analysis: The Bitcoins transferred by the US government may have already been sold

BlockBeats reports that on August 17, lawyer Scoot Johnsson posted on X stating that the U.S. Marshals Service (USMS) is almost certainly selling Bitcoin confiscated from Silk Road law enforcement actions. The USMS has been sending BTC to custodial addresses required by the terms of service agreement with Coinbase. Given that the agreement requires USMS assets to be completely isolated, it can be determined that the USMS has sold or is about to sell whenever they are finally transferred to Coinbase Prime (or other mixed trading platform addresses). Official confirmation will be confirmed at latest in the report of Department of Justice's asset forfeiture plan for fiscal year 2024.

According to a snippet from its crypto services agreement RFP, "The custodian should ensure each government cryptocurrency asset is isolated by its wallet address. The custodian should ensure that cryptocurrency wallet addresses provided to the government are not reused and/or provided to other institutions, agencies and/or customers. The custodian should ensure that government's cryptocurrency inventory never mixes with any other wallets or addresses belonging to different owners."

Previously reported by BlockBeats, on July 2nd, Coinbase announced that after a comprehensive process, the U.S. Department of Justice's Asset Forfeiture Responsibility Agency - U.S Marshals Service (USMS), chose Coinbase Prime as their 'Class I' (large-scale assets) digital asset custody and advanced trading services provider. These assets managed centrally by USMS support federal law enforcement.