US Marshals To Auction $37M In Bitcoin This Month

The United States Marshals Service is auctioning about 4050.54 bitcoin (BTC) that were forfeited in various federal criminal, civil, and administrative cases.

What Happened

The BTC worth about $37.5 million at press time will be auctioned online on February 18, the federal agency said in a statement Monday.

Those interested must be registered with the USMS, and be an eligible bidder under its rules. The bidder registration began on Monday at 8 a.m. EST and will continue until noon on February 12.

The Justice Department agency will notify the registrants of their eligibility to participate in the bids by February 13, 5 p.m. EST.

The USMS said that the BTC would be auctioned in four different batches that have been further divided into smaller blocks.

The first batch, Series A, will see 2500 BTC being auctioned in five blocks of 500 BTC each, followed by 1000 BTC in 10 blocks, 500 BTC in another 10 blocks, and the last batch of 40.54 BTC.

The bidders will need to deposit $200,000 per registration form for the bid, and will have to submit multiple forms if they want to bid different prices for different blocks, the USMS said.

Why It Matters

Auctions have been the preferred method for the United States law agencies to dispose of the bitcoin seized in various legal cases.

Venture capitalist Tim Draper famously won about 29,656.5 BTC in a USMS auction of assets seized from the Silk Road marketplace website. The bitcoin worth about $17 million at the time would be worth $275.4 million at press time.

Price Action

Bitcoin traded 1.08% lower at $9,287.76 at press time.