The United States Marshals Service is scheduled to auction nearly $25 million in bitcoins by mid-Month.
The government agency announced Monday that it will place approximately 2,170 bitcoins in the auction, which is scheduled for March 19. Applicants must file a $200,000 deposit and complete registration requirements by March 14 to participate, according to the Sheriff's Corps.This month's auction will consist of 14 separate lots, with two batches of 500 BTC, 11 batches of 100 BTC and one batch of 70 BTC.
Cording to the statement, the bitcoins were confiscated in "connection with various federal criminal, civil and administrative cases," ranging from federal trials to drug enforcement actions.
The provenance of most seized bitcoins is listed online, where they specifically mention that some of the coins involved date back to Shaun Bridges, the former Secret Service agent who was sentenced to prison after being accused of stealing funds during the Silk Road website investigation.
The March 19th sale will be the agency's most recent bitcoins auction. Just last month it auctioned more than 3,600 bitcoins to five bidders, an amount that was worth more than US$30 million at the time. It is also the third sale that will take place within a period of almost two years. The last auction took place in mid-2016, when the agency sold 2,700 BTCs.
In what may be a sign of how Bitcoin's value has increased since then, the coins, in that year's record, were valued at only US$1.6 million.
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