Earlier today, a social media post claiming that the U.S. government had sold $75 million worth of Bitcoin gained some traction on the X social media platform.
However, as Alex Thorn, head of firmwide research at Galaxy Digital, explained, the post in question is "fake news."
Forfeited coins
According to the analyst, the transfer is actually linked to the U.S. government's conviction of Sergei Potapenko and Igor (Ivan) Turogin for the HashFlare mining fraud.
The two Estonian nationals were involved in a fraudulent scheme called "HashFlare," which was being actively promoted as a cryptocurrency mining service.
They were selling "mining contracts" without actually having enough computing power to be able to deliver on their promises. Instead, they were showing false returns to victims.
The investors took in nearly $600 million, and the duo used that money for personal enrichment, which included expensive cars and jewelry.
The fraudsters were then sentenced to 16 months in prison, and $450 million worth of their assets, including crypto, real estate, and vehicles, were then got forfeited.
The US government started the legal process of forfeiting the assets in question in August.
Thorn claims that the wallet transfer comes after a final forfeiture order, meaning that the government now officially owns these coins (which is the opposite of selling).
Will the US government buy Bitcoin?
As reported by U.Today, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has repeatedly flip-flopped on the issue of buying more coins for the U.S. government. Earlier, he stated that halting the sale of forfeited coins would be the first step.
The odds of the US government buying Bitcoin for the national reserve currency stand at only 12%.
Dan Burgin
Vladislav Sopov
U.Today Editorial Team