The US government recently transferred 58.742 BTC, valued at nearly $4 million, to the cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase. These bitcoins were seized from Ryan Farace in a dark web operation.
Blockchain analytics firm Arkham Intelligence reported that the transfer originated from an address labeled “US Government: Ryan Farace Seized Funds,” identified as 3B2jEBZi8fJWGEDrh6Pe7hDMaJ6iGfFtaU. These bitcoins were confiscated three years ago from Farace, who was convicted in 2018 for selling Alprazolam (the generic form of Xanax) on the dark web.
Ryan Farace’s father, Joseph Farace, was also convicted of laundering and trafficking the bitcoin proceeds intended for federal forfeiture. The Department of Justice recovered 2,933 BTC from the father and son, with plans to liquidate the holdings announced in January of this year. Ryan received a 54-month prison sentence, while Joseph was sentenced to 19 months.
The transfer of funds to Coinbase is expected to have minimal impact on bitcoin’s spot price, unlike the recent significant sale by Germany’s Saxony state. On June 19, Saxony began selling bitcoins confiscated from the movie piracy website movie2k. By July 12, it had sold almost 50,000 BTC, generating nearly $2.87 billion. This rapid sale earned a profit of over $740 million from its acquisition cost of $2.13 billion in January.
However, Saxony’s large sale put substantial bearish pressure on the market, briefly causing bitcoin’s price to drop below $55,000. As of now, BTC is trading around $67,000, a level it has maintained for most of the past week.
