- The U.S. government announced the sale of more than $130 million in BTC linked to Silk Road.
- According to court documents, this includes 2,874 BTC seized from drug trafficker Ryan Farace and 58 BTC seized from convicted law enforcement agent Sean Bridges.
- BTC price remains near $40,000, but the market is watching Ethereum and Solana.
Cryptocurrency news today is dominated by the U.S. government’s announcement of plans to sell more than $3,200 worth of Bitcoin (BTC), worth more than $130 million. According to the documents, these Bitcoins appear to be part of confiscations linked to the infamous darknet marketplace Silk Road.
While this news has not had a significant impact on the price of BTC at the time of writing, the market is buzzing about what the outlook for the top cryptocurrency by market capitalization could mean for altcoins. Elsewhere, the potential resurgence of meme coins has traders eyeing the next gem. Could Memeinator (MMTR) be one of the tokens to watch?
US Government Sells $130 Million Worth of BTC
On Thursday, January 25, the U.S. government filed a notice to sell more than $130 million worth of Bitcoin (BTC) seized from two individuals linked to the Silk Road darknet.
According to court documents filed in U.S. District Court in Maryland, the government sold 2,874 bitcoins seized from Ryan Farace and Sean Bridges in February 2021 and 58 bitcoins seized from Farace in May 2021. I plan to do it.
The approximate value of the first batch at the time of the government notification was $129 million and the market value of the second batch was about $3.3 million.
The BTC confiscation follows Farace’s conviction for drug trafficking. Bridges, a former Secret Service agent, was convicted of stealing Bitcoin during the Silk Road investigation. The public has 60 days (from the initial filing date of the notice on January 10, 2024) to file a petition if anyone other than the defendants has an interest in the forfeited BTC.
In March last year, the U.S. government presentation It sold 9,861 BTC for $215 million and liquidated an additional 41,500 BTC in four batches over the course of a year.
The bitcoins came from 51,351 BTC authorities seized from James Zhong in November 2022, according to documents filed in court at the time. Zong was charged with wire fraud in connection with the Silk Road Marketplace.
Altcoins to watch for BTC price outlook: Ethereum, Solana, Memeinator
The US government’s recent BTC sale comes as the cryptocurrency market battles downward pressure, with retail sentiment dampened by GBTC outflows in recent weeks.
But Bitcoin is still close to the $40,000 level, and as JPMorgan analysts said on Thursday, the grayscale selling pressure may be over. What does this mean for the wider market?
Experts say a potential bounce from current levels could lead BTC to retest recent highs of $49,000. The long-term optimism is aided by the upcoming block reward halving, with predictions that the price of Bitcoin could surpass $100,000 by the end of the year or early 2024.
Due to this, the altcoin market is also showing signs of long-term strength, with top altcoins including Ethereum and Solana likely to gain new traction. BTC could fall to a new 2024 low after plummeting to $38,600 this week, while ETH and SOL could find support levels below $2,000 and $80, respectively.
Below this level could present a great buying opportunity.
Explore Memeinator (MMTR)
Solana’s surge in 2023 helped fuel a surge in meme coin activity, and coins like Bonk surged, rekindling the resurgence of meme coins. As SOL struggled, BONK prices fell significantly.
This means the market may be looking for new meme coin gems.
With new momentum building amid widespread market interest in the pre-sale, Memeinator (MMTR) could be one of the tokens set to explode in the coming months. Memeinator is designed to return meme culture to the industry by enhancing its true utility within a play-to-earn ecosystem.
As a meme coin on a mission to end the menace of poor-quality copycat meme tokens, the project may be ready to challenge top dog-themed coins Dogecoin and Shiba Inu.
Memeinator’s pre-sale has raised over $3.9 million and is currently in Phase 13. At this stage, the MMTR price of $0.0197 is likely to be a huge discount if the project dominates the meme market as expected.
Learn more about Memeinator in our white paper or visit our pre-sale page.