Key Takeaways
- The US Marshals Service missed a deadline to report back to Senator Cynthia Lummis on Bitcoin administration from the Silk Highway case.
- Senator Lummis raised considerations over the deliberate sale of 69,370 Bitcoin, price about $7 billion, citing a possible 98% loss in worth.
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The US Marshals Service (USMS) missed a Friday deadline to offer detailed details about its dealing with of Bitcoin seized from the Silk Highway case to Senator Cynthia Lummis, a improvement that sources with data of the matter had indicated.
Senator Lummis, in a letter to the USMS final month, raised considerations concerning the company’s deliberate sale of roughly 69,370 seized Bitcoin, valued at about $7 billion on the present market worth. She cited potential monetary losses for taxpayers and a battle with the Trump administration’s coverage directives.
Lummis’ letter to USMS highlighted the company’s earlier Bitcoin gross sales, noting that disposals of 195,092 Bitcoin between 2014 and 2023 generated round $366 million. Those self same holdings could be price over $18.9 billion at present market costs, representing what Lummis referred to as a “staggering 98% loss in potential worth.”
The letter additionally famous a latest courtroom submitting the place the Division of Justice cited Bitcoin worth volatility to justify an expedited sale. She discovered the Division’s aggressive pursuit of liquidation, regardless of pending authorized challenges, troubling, particularly through the presidential transition interval.
The letter referred to as for higher transparency within the USMS’s administration of Bitcoin belongings, together with public disclosure of holdings. It additionally sought to carry the company accountable for previous losses and guarantee higher decision-making sooner or later.
On the time the letter was revealed, there was a widespread expectation throughout the crypto neighborhood that Trump would difficulty an govt order (EO) to ascertain a nationwide Bitcoin stockpile, a key promise from his presidential marketing campaign.
On Jan. 23, the President signed an EO directing a working group to evaluate the feasibility of making a nationwide digital asset stockpile.
Whereas the order doesn’t fulfill the particular promise of a devoted Bitcoin reserve, it leaves open the chance that Bitcoin could possibly be a part of a stockpile whether it is established, which may probably embrace Bitcoin and different crypto belongings seized by federal authorities.
The USMS, which oversees digital belongings seized throughout prison investigations, manages an asset forfeiture program valued at roughly $7.6 billion as of September 2024.
Whereas the company missed the deadline, an individual accustomed to the matter mentioned it could temporary Lummis and her workers in coming weeks and supply a list of its Bitcoin holdings.
Senator Lummis has been appointed chair of the newly shaped Senate Banking Subcommittee on Digital Belongings. This subcommittee is the primary of its sort, devoted to overseeing digital belongings beneath the Senate Banking Committee, now led by Senator Tim Scott.
The subcommittee goals to cross bipartisan laws that establishes a complete authorized framework for digital belongings. This framework is meant to advertise accountable innovation whereas defending customers and consists of provisions for market construction, stablecoins, and a strategic Bitcoin reserve.
Lummis briefly led an effort to create a US strategic Bitcoin reserve by means of proposed laws referred to as the BITCOIN Act, which might enable the federal government to accumulate a million Bitcoins, roughly 5% of the whole provide.
The invoice was useless as of January 3, 2025, but when she plans to reintroduce it in 2025, it may capitalize on help from the newly elected crypto-friendly administration.
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