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Cryptocurrency markets saw a minor slump as news of Silkroad-linked Bitcoins (BTC) movement hit the airwaves. Bitcoin prices stayed around $28,000 amid the confusion. Although the transfer has not been confirmed yet, initial impressions suggest there is nothing to be afraid of.
Is the US Selling BTC?
Social media was ablaze with speculation as BTC prices dipped below $27,900. A closer look at the transaction, however, reveals a transfer amount of less than $3,000. In the wallet, 1501 BTC remains intact.
This could be a test transfer to the target wallet. If so, we could see a real drop when the main transfer occurs post-confirmation.
Possible reasons for the transfer to zero-balance receiver wallets could be two-fold. One could be a test balance sent for receiver wallet verification. However, the US has previously executed single transactions smoothly and has not encountered any problems in this regard.
The second possibility seems stronger. One of the recipient addresses begins with 3, indicating a Pay-to-Script-Hash address, i.e., a multisig wallet. Therefore, this transfer might not be for selling but for moving to a more secure wallet, which is supported by the presence of the P2SH wallet.
Mystery Solved
On-chain analysts have yet to clarify the situation as of the writing of this article. However, with the confirmation of the transfer, the mystery has largely been solved. Most likely, 1500 BTC were not sent for sale. The intended transfer was 10 BTC, sent to a P2SH wallet. The remaining balance was moved to a second address that uses the same wallet application, possibly an alternate address for US officials.
Silkroad-linked sender address bc1qzd8c8h8dcgwuy5zdafdzdce2ap0nayf8v3xrez was used to send to Arkham.
The sender’s address, bc1qzd8c8h8dcgwuy5zdafdzdce2ap0nayf8v3xrez, has a balance of about $11,000 left. A similar transfer occurred a year ago, and we can only speculate about why 10 BTC was split unless the US Department of Justice provides an explanation. The sending wallet, likely a cold wallet, is known to be part of the Silkroad file.
Conclusion: Our information shared before the transfer confirmation was correct, and there was no transfer of a size that could cause sell pressure. After the transfer confirmation, only 10 BTC went to a different wallet. The remaining 1490 BTC stays in the exchange wallet.
