TL;DR Breakdown
- GSA set to auction around $300,000 Bitcoin.
- GSA is U.S. government online clearinghouse.
- Many other previous crypto auctions by the US govt.
The US government has announced that it will host an online auction of 4.92 Bitcoin, worth around $290,000 this week.
US Government General Services Administration (GSA), which would be hosting the auction, started the auction on Tuesday to complete the entire sales on Thursday.
The GSA serves as the federal government’s online clearinghouse for surplus, federally-owned assets, and equipment which explains why it is auctioning off some Bitcoin. Five lots containing a total of 4.94 BTC worth around $293,000. Bitcoin trades at $59,000 (CoinGecko) at press time as the entire crypto market is experiencing a slight dump.
The smallest lot the US government agent would trade is 0.44 BTC, worth just under $26,000, while the largest lot of 1.5 BTC is worth around $88,400. Currently, the highest bid is at a slight discount to the price of Bitcoin, with all the winning bids currently totaling $283,630.
US government agent, GSA pleased to auction Bitcoin
Thomas Meiron, a regional commissioner for the Federal Auction Service, said that there are a lot of great introductions to the crypto community, and GSA is pleased to be able to offer them for public auction.
However, this is not the first auction the U.S. government would trade. Usually, BTC auctioned by the GSA is sold at a discounted price. In April, the government agency sold 9.45 BTC, worth $520,000 at the time, for $487,000, meaning that buyers could scoop Bitcoin at more than 6 percent below market price.
One of the most memorable auctions by the U.S. government was carried out by US Marshals in 2014 when 30,000 BTC (then worth $19 million) seized from the dark web marketplace Silk Road were put up for sale. Tim Draper bought all the coins then for an undisclosed price.
This summer, the agency (GSA) also auctioned off roughly 150 Litecoins, as previously reported.
