Bitcoin experienced a minor decline on Monday as the U.S. government transferred a substantial amount of Bitcoin from its Silk Road crypto holdings. Data indicates that approximately $2 billion worth of Bitcoin was moved to a new address. The transactions were executed in two batches, valued at around $669 million and $1.33 billion each.

It is believed that these funds were likely moved to an institutional custodial service, with Coinbase being a potential, though unverified, candidate due to its role as the preferred brokerage platform for U.S. authorities.

UPDATE: The U.S. Government has split the $2B Bitcoin into two addresses: 10,000 BTC ($669.35M) and 19,800 BTC ($1.33B).

Bitcoin declined approximately 1% following this news, trading below $67,600. This fall came after BTC briefly touched $70,000 for the first time since May.

The lack of detailed information about the wallet’s management did not quell speculation. Tyler Winklevoss, co-founder of Gemini, noted that the transfers occurred shortly after former President Donald Trump announced his intentions to halt all government Bitcoin sales if re-elected. This timing fueled further speculation about the current administration’s plans for the nation’s BTC reserves.

Speculators are questioning whether the current Democratic administration, led by President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, intends to offload the nation’s Bitcoin holdings. This speculation intensified after Trump pledged not to sell any of the U.S. government’s Bitcoin and promised to convert the seized Silk Road BTC into a strategic national reserve during the Bitcoin 2024 conference in Nashville. His promise to remove SEC chair Gary Gensler was met with enthusiastic applause from the crypto community.

Additionally, Trump’s campaign has highlighted the case of Ross Ulbricht, the creator of Silk Road, with many in the Web3 community supporting his release.

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