Analysis: US government transfers nearly $600 million in Silk Road Bitcoin may be just for escrow

The U.S. government on Wednesday transferred 10,000 Silk Road-linked seized Bitcoin (BTC) to Coinbase Prime, the exchange giant’s institutional platform, according to blockchain data from Arkham Intelligence. Deposits to exchanges typically indicate an intent to sell assets, but in this case the transfer was likely for custody reasons, analysts said, as the U.S. Marshals Service, an agency under the U.S. Department of Justice, announced a partnership with Coinbase Prime last month to “secure and trade” large digital assets. According to court documents, the government’s last confirmed sale of Silk Road assets was in March 2023, when 9,861 tokens were sold for $216 million. The government listed plans in the documents to sell the remaining assets in four tranches that year, but there have been no subsequent contracts for sales since then.