The Bitcoin price has fallen by 7% in the last 7 days. In the last 24 hours, it has fallen by 1.18%.
On Wednesday, US authorities transferred $1B worth of Bitcoin (BTC) they saved from a dark web hack to new wallet addresses, including Coinbase, fueling investors’ fears that intense selling pressure could lower the price of BTC. According to data from blockchain security company PeckShield, US authorities moved BTC in three separate transactions. About 10,000 Bitcoins were sent to wallets owned by Coinbase, while about $41,000 worth of BTC was sent to wallets controlled by the US government.
The US government often sells the assets it confiscates at auction. In 2014 and 2015, the government auctioned off Bitcoin, which it had seized from the owner of the online black market Silk Road. Conor Ryder, a researcher at crypto markets analysis firm Kaiko, told CoinDesk that concerns that the Bitcoin price could fall due to the sale of BTC on the open market are exaggerated, but not entirely unjustified. It remains unclear whether the authorities will auction off the Bitcoins they have seized. Moreover, California-based Silvergate Capital Corp., which provides lending services to many crypto firms, announced that it would cease operations and liquidate Silvergate Bank. And Fed Chairman Jerome Powell, in his speech to the US Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, reminded that the latest economic data came in stronger than expected, and said, “the ultimate level of interest rates is likely to be higher than previously anticipated.” All these developments may have been effective in the decline of the Bitcoin price.
