US government to auction off $1.6m in bitcoin

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The US government is preparing to auction off 2,7000 bitcoins with a value of $1.6m.

The US Marshal Services (USMS) says that the bitcoins where seized from various federal, civil and administrative cases. Many come from cases connected to the dark web.

Much of the digital currency for sale is connected to Silk Road investigations with 1,294 of the bitcoins seized from drug dealer Matthew Gillum who was sentenced to nine years in prison in 2015.

The auction will be held on August 22 and requires a $100,000 deposit.

This is the first bitcoin auction to be held in 2016 by the USMS, which has held four previously since June 2014.

The current value of the cryptocurrency sits at $589 after it slumped to $552 following the theft of 119,756 bitcoins, worth $77m, from bitcoin exchange Bitfinex.

Copyright © 2016 FINTECH GLOBAL

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