DOJ cleared to sell $6.5B in Bitcoin seized from Silk Road

Key Takeaways

• The US Department of Justice was approved to sell 69,370 Bitcoin seized from Silk Road, a new report said.
• Battle Born Investments opposed the sale but failed to block it.

The US Department of Justice (DOJ) has been authorized to sell approximately 69,370 Bitcoin seized in connection with the Silk Road darknet marketplace, a haul currently valued at around $6.5 billion, DB News reported Wednesday. The decision is set to end a years-long legal dispute over the BTC stash’s ownership.

On December 30, a federal judge ruled in favor of the DOJ’s request to liquidate the crypto assets, the report said. Battle Born Investments, which had asserted a claim to the Bitcoin stash through a bankruptcy estate, ultimately failed in its bid to delay the sale.

As noted, the group had pursued a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request seeking the identity of “Individual X,” who initially surrendered Bitcoin, but the effort also proved unsuccessful.

Battle Born’s legal counsel criticized the DOJ’s handling of the case, alleging the department employed “procedural trickery” in its use of civil asset forfeiture to avoid scrutiny.

The DOJ, in its arguments before the court, cited Bitcoin’s price volatility as motivation for seeking a quick sale of the seized assets. A DOJ spokesperson, when contacted, stated, “The Government will proceed further consistent with the judgment in this case.”

The update comes after the US Supreme Court refused to hear an appeal challenging the seizure of the Bitcoin stash, which was brought by Battle Born last October. The decision likely paved the way for the US government to sell Bitcoin, which was valued at $4.4 billion at the time. The US Marshals Service is expected to manage the liquidation process, which, if confirmed, will be one of the largest sales of seized crypto in history.

News of the DOJ’s clearance to sell the seized Bitcoin briefly pressured the market, with Bitcoin falling from approximately $95,000 to $93,800, CoinGecko data shows. It’s now trading at around $94,300, down almost 3% in the last 24 hours.

The DOJ has yet to issue a statement on this matter.

This is a developing story.