Australian auction sells $19 million worth of confiscated Bitcoin

Rage Comment : After the US government held its first bitcoin auction, which attracted the attention of the world, the Australian government also held a bitcoin auction. The auction was hosted by the audit and financial services company Ernst & Young. The 25,518 bitcoins auctioned were seized from drug traffickers by Australian law enforcement in 2014. Australia held this auction because it saw that the bitcoin market is now in a relatively stable stage, with the price of bitcoin reaching its highest level in nearly two years. On July 14, the number of bitcoins will be halved every four years, so before that, the Australian authorities are confident that they can hold an auction with enthusiastic bids.

Translation: Nicole

There is currently $19 million worth of Bitcoin going on public auction, which is being overseen by professional services firm Ernst & Young.

Announced on May 30, the 48-hour auction, which began at 12:01am (AEST) today, saw E&Y (audit and financial services firm Ernst & Young) auction off 25,518 (valued at approximately $19 million at press time). As previously reported, the bitcoins were seized by local law enforcement in Australia in late 2014 as part of a drug investigation.

But with bitcoin trading continuing to rise for two years, only people with an interest in bitcoin will show up at the auction, and it remains to be seen whether the sale will attract the same high-profile attendees as auctions in the United States.

So far, CoinDesk has only confirmed the identity of one auction participant, Silicon Valley bitcoin purchasing service Binary Financial, who said they would be placing bids at the event.

U.S. auction participants include itBit and Pantera Capital, which said they would not bid, and New York trading firms Genesis Mining and Cumberland Mining, which did not respond to requests for comment. (E&Y declined to say how many bidders participated.)

While the high price of bitcoin at auction may seem like a hindrance, Binary managing partner Harry Yeh revealed that auction blocks are attractive to over-the-counter bitcoin trading firms such as his own, saying he has been trying to track the source of demand from bitcoin’s recent gains.

Harry Yeh

Yeh told CoinDesk:

“We want to help our customers accumulate more Bitcoin. Right now, getting access to buy Bitcoin without paying high fees is an advantage.”

According to sources, the OTC buyer's purchase price is 2% higher than the market price, which is $748 million. The price of Bitcoin sold to the exchange will be $760 million.

In recent weeks, the price of Bitcoin has grown rapidly due to the long-term network plan of halving the number of Bitcoins. While experts analyze the specific drivers of price growth, the halving event has attracted the interest of observers because it marks a drop in the number of Bitcoins by 50%.

The first Bitcoin auction attracted global attention due to the participation of the US government, but most subsequent auctions failed to attract strong bidders and media interest.