Arkham Intelligence, a US-based company, reported in the US morning hours that US authorities had transferred more than $90 million of Bitcoin and Ethereum previously taken from two Estonian citizens involved in a massive cryptocurrency fraud and money launder scheme. Just days after the transfer of approximately $2 billion Bitcoin related to Silk Road’s infamous marketplace.
Arkham Intel noted, using its advanced tracking technologies, that only two hours prior, the US Government executed a number of transactions with the seized digital asset. These included the transfer of 0.69 BTC, worth approximately $45.750, and another 374 BTC, valued at around $24.80 million, to a newly identified Bitcoin address (3GoRwyQvAJhX3conyuq355JiBD9FyfXAQe).
Additional 218.5 BTC worth $14.49m, as well as 4.567K Ethereum, amounting to $15.21m, have been moved to the address. Just minutes prior to press time, another 0.0001 BTC and 0.5 BTC were moved to another new address (3LNW8R3AfDQgVCB9sQPwChyG47ktSjh3f3).
The Bitcoin and Ethereum addresses were new to Arkham and had never been used before. This suggests a consolidation strategy rather than a liquidation.
The seized funds originate from Sergei Potapenko and Ivan Turõgin, two Estonians arrested in their home country in October 2022 following an 18-count indictment by a grand jury in the Western District of Washington.
They were implicated in orchestrating an $575 million cryptocurrency scam through two of their businesses, HashFlare – a mining service for cryptocurrency – and Polybius Bank – a virtual currency banking institution that did not exist nor pay dividends promised to investors. They used shell companies as well as fraudulent contracts to rent equipment, and then laundered the money through them in order for luxury cars and real estate.
In September last year, the Estonian government approved the extradition of Potapenko and Turõgin to the United States. Kaja Kallas then revealed to the Estonian public that this decision had taken place at government level.
The US Government’s Bitcoin transactions today follow the precedent of the Silk Road bitcoin transactions. Notably, 2000 BTC of the Silk Road haul was transferred to A Coinbase walletThe rest of the money was moved to an Arkham wallet that Arkham identified as being owned by the government.
This pattern suggests that the US Government has a systemic approach in handling digital assets. It focuses on consolidating before taking any possible future action.
The crypto market has been watching these events and the Bitcoin price is stable at $66,000. Both investors and those who follow the crypto market are intrigued by the amount of cash involved as well as the way the government has handled such assets.
Contrary to what is commonly believed, the US government doesn’t usually sell Bitcoin or Ether in the open markets. “The Silk Road US GOV coins FUD is literally just FUD. The government doesn’t slam market sell on public orderbooks. If it’s getting sold it either already or will be sold OTC/auction,” Crypto analyst Byzantine general noted two days ago.
BTC is currently trading for $66,311.
![Bitcoin price](https://fxruhanahmed.com/2/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/1712243409_825_US-Govt-Moves-90M-In-Bitcoin-ETH-From-Estonian-Scammers.png)
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