Jarod Koopman, director of the Internal Revenue Service’s cybercrime unit, told CNBC that the United States government had seized 170,000% more crypto this year than it did in 2019. He said, “In the fiscal year 2019, we had about $700,000 worth of crypto seizures. In 2020, it was up to $137 million. And so far in 2021, we’re at $1.2 billion.”
The United States government has auctioned off bitcoins in the past, usually at undervalued prices. The government is expected to auction off $56 million worth of cryptocurrencies that authorities confiscated as part of the BitConnect case.
Bitcoin is down by more than 3% today and continues to struggle below the $50k level in recent weeks.