Did Joe Biden crash the Bitcoin price this week?

The global reaction to the 25-year prison sentence for Sam Bankman-Fried was quite something. The US media noted that with good behavior he could be released within 10 to 15 years.

Crypto fans in turn responded by stating that 25 years in prison is a pittance compared to what Ross Ulbricht, the American founder of Silk Road, received at the time of his arrest.

Ulbricht was sentenced to two life sentences for operating the first real commercial platform where you could buy things with Bitcoin. I’ll admit that those products were mostly illegal, but still.

Ross Ulbricht was sentenced for double life + 40 years.

Sam Bankman-Fried was sentenced for 25 years.

Honestly, that’s unfair, as Sam purposedly defrauded his clients and investors and negatively impacting the #Bitcoin industry.

Free Ross Ulbricht.

— Michaël van de Poppe (@CryptoMichNL) March 30, 2024

Silk Road Bitcoins

The fact that the US government seized billions in Bitcoin from Silk Road also plays a role in the whole story. While FTX left an $8 billion hole when it declared bankruptcy in 2022, the White House makes billions every year from selling Silk Road Bitcoins whereas it doesn’t have anything to gain from FTX’s bankruptcy.

Of course, the history of Bitcoin cannot be written without criminal stories such as Silk Road and Mt Gox. The story of Silk Road, the online store for drugs and other illegal items that was very popular on the darkest parts of the internet during the years 2010 to 2020, reads like a thriller.

It was also the very first time that it became clear what Bitcoin could all be used for.

The US government confiscated all those Bitcoins during the Silk Road shutdown. Ever since then, the value of those crypto coins has of course increased incredibly and the White House is sitting on a gold mine of digital coins by now.

BREAKING 🇺🇸 US government just moved 30k #Bitcoin from the Silk Road hack worth +$2 Billion to Coinbase - Arkham pic.twitter.com/9ihpHbRfOn

— Bitcoin Archive (@BTC_Archive) April 2, 2024

Once again this week, the White House decided to transfer some Bitcoins. According to data from Arkham Intelligence, approximately $2 billion worth of Bitcoin was moved to a Coinbase wallet. No one knows when these Bitcoins will be sold (or if they have already been sold), but it is clear that Joe Biden has made a serious profit. Whether this is why the Bitcoin price fell 5% on Tuesday is not entirely clear, but it is a strong possibility.

🚨 BREAKING 🚨

The USA are now liquidating bitcoins they got for free from the silkroad hack years ago.

We are getting dumped on by our government.

— Wolf Of Altcoins (@wolfaltcoin) April 2, 2024