The crypto market may be filled with great uncertainty at the moment, but the US government is still making millions from Bitcoin sales. That’s according to a document submitted to the court on Friday showing that the Feds sold BTC in mid-March, making roughly $210 million.

How the Government Took Possession of the Bitcoin

The Justice Department seized the Bitcoin in question in November 2021 from a hacker named James Zhong, who admitted to stealing it from the dark net marketplace Silk Road. The court filing indicates that the Feds are still holding 41,450 BTC worth approximately $1 billion after converting 9,800 Bitcoins to cash on March 14.

The founder of Silk Road, Ross Ulbricht, was served with life imprisonment in 2015 after he was found guilty of operating the illegal online marketplace, mostly used to purchase and sell illegal drugs. The US authorities, however, closed it down in 2014.

Silk Road Hacker Pleads Guilty

In 2022, James Zhong pleaded guilty to charges of wire fraud. This came after the government accused him of manipulating the Silk Road transaction systems 11 years ago to steal over 51,000 Bitcoins. The government also claimed that Zhong hid these digital assets for more than 9 years until their value skyrocketed to $3.2 billion.

The prosecutors revealed that Zhong used multiple virtual private networks and computer servers to execute the illegal act.

Meanwhile, the Feds have told the court that they plan to dump the remaining BTC throughout the year in four phases. Whether their plan would cause the price of the world’s largest digital asset to fall remains to be seen.