Justin Sun, the founder of Tron (TRX), has stated that he intends to purchase the over $1.1 billion in Bitcoin (BTC) that the United States government plans to sell, possibly as early as this month.
Sun reveals to his 3,4 million Twitter followers that he will purchase the government-seized Bitcoin at a 10% discount in order to mitigate the market-wide effects of such a massive transaction.
Sun is responding to reports that the government plans to sell the remaining 51,351 Bitcoin that it seized from hacker James Zhong in 2012 after accusing him of stealing the digital assets that formerly existed on the Silk Road black market.
The government sold approximately 9,861 Bitcoins for over $215 million on March 14, leaving approximately 41,491 Bitcoins. The sale of the remaining BTC would be worth more than $1.14 billion at the price of Bitcoin at the moment, which is $27,588.
The latest information regarding the seized BTC was included in a document submitted to the Southern District of New York’s U.S. District Court and related to Zhong’s sentencing.
According to the government, the remaining BTC will not be sold until after Zhong’s sentencing, which is slated for April 14.
Zhong was accused of stealing Bitcoin by deceiving the website’s payment processing system via false accounts and quick deposits followed by more significant withdrawals. Zhong admitted to committing wire fraud in relation to the theft.
Silk Road was a former darknet black market that operated between 2011 and 2013 and was frequently linked to illegal activities like money laundering and drug trafficking.