Bitcoin: billions in BTC for sale in the USA?
It is official: the government of the USA has been authorized to sell more than 69,000 BTC.
The total value of those Bitcoin far exceeds six billion dollars.
The sale was authorized at the end of December by a ruling by Judge Richard Seeborg, but it was only reported yesterday.
This ruling does nothing but remove any obstacle to the possible sale, but it does not mandate it.
The decision instead rests with the current owners of those 69,370 BTC (Bitcoin), namely the Department of Justice of the US government.
As far as is known, such a decision has not yet been made, also because there is another issue at stake.
The Strategic Reserve in Bitcoin
Those 69,370 BTC come from a seizure against a person involved in the Silk Road case.
In reality, it currently appears that the Bitcoins in possession of the DoJ (Department of Justice) total 198,000, originating from multiple seizures.
According to what Donald Trump stated during the election campaign, the intention would be not to sell them, but to include them within a new national strategic reserve.
However, Trump will take office only on January 20, which is in two Mondays, and the Biden administration does not agree on this point. In fact, already at the beginning of December, almost a month after Trump’s victory, the Biden administration sold about 10,000 BTC in possession of the DoJ.
So on one side, there is still the current administration ready to sell those Bitcoins now that it has effectively been authorized by the court, while on the other side, time is running out before the new Trump administration takes office.
A spokesperson for the current administration stated that they intend to proceed with the sale, but it will be necessary to see if they manage to proceed in time.
The impact on the price of BTC
The price of Bitcoin has been decreasing for a few days.
The Dollar Index, which is very high and further increasing, makes a rebound in the short term highly unlikely.
