Analysis: The U.S. government transferring nearly $600 million in Silk Road bitcoins may just be for custody

ChainCatcher news, blockchain data from Arkham Intelligence shows that the U.S. government transferred 10,000 seized bitcoins (BTC) related to Silk Road to the institutional platform Coinbase Prime on Wednesday.

Analysts indicate that deposits to exchanges typically signal an intention to sell assets, but in this case, the transfer may be for custodial reasons, as the U.S. Marshals Service, a branch of the Department of Justice, announced last month a partnership with Coinbase Prime to "safeguard and trade" large digital assets.

According to court documents, the government last confirmed the sale of Silk Road assets in March 2023, when it sold 9,861 tokens for $216 million. The government outlined plans in the documents to sell the remaining assets in four batches that year, but there have been no subsequent contracts regarding the sales since then.