The United States has sold over 185,000 btc

The United States has a large stock of bitcoin and other digital assets. They have been seized by various investigative services and will be auctioned off after conviction. The responsible service US Marshals Service already has 185,000 BTC from 2014 to the middle of this year auctioned.

State bitcoin

When investigating crimes, US law enforcement agencies around the world are increasingly confronted with bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. Sometimes large sums of money as part of the crime committed, such as ransom in a hack.

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Other times, a bitcoin wallet is just one of a suspect’s assets. After a conviction, seized bitcoins are often auctioned. The US Marshals Service (USMS) is responsible for the sale of cryptocurrencies.

In the meantime, the US government may unwittingly HODL bitcoin. Like that announcement The U.S. Attorney’s Office said in November it seized some $ 56 million in cryptocurrency from Glenn Arcaro, who considered himself the ‘No. 1 promoter’ of BitConnect, the largest ponzi scheme in history. cryptocurrencies. Arcado pleaded guilty on September 1, but is not expected to be convicted until February 2022.

Until then, the government will store the bitcoins with an external party. for those Guard Service hired Anchorage Digital, America’s first crypto bank with a banking license. Following the conviction, the USMS, in partnership with Anchorage, will auction BitConnect’s cryptocurrency with the proceeds going to the victims of the fraud. Victims can report themselves via a form.

In other cases, the US government itself retains the proceeds from auctions of cryptocurrencies and other assets. The money is deposited into one of two special funds for seized property, the Treasury Confiscation Fund or the Ministry of Justice Property Confiscation Fund. These funds are now about two-thirds full with the proceeds of crypto. The various departments and ministries or policies can call on these funds to finance projects or activities.

Forced adoption

Diogo Monica, co-founder of Anchorage Digital sees a chain reaction of forced adoption.

“Something very interesting is happening. For every business that goes into crypto, buys bitcoin, or participates in bitcoin, there are several other businesses that are forced to deal with crypto as well.

This applies to businesses, but also to criminals who force the government to deal with crypto.

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