Pierre Rochard: $1.6 B BTC From Silk Road Hacker Should Be Put In Reserve

Pierre Rochard stands as a notable influencer in the Bitcoin space, and has recently called on lawmakers to stop an auction of $1.6 billion in Bitcoin that was seized. Instead, Rochard believes that these assets would best be used as a strategic reserve.

Trying To Convince US Lawmakers To Issue New Laws

Rochard stands as a Bitcoin Maximalist, and is the man behind the recent controversy surrounding Ethereum and its total supply of Ether.

I will send 1 million sats to anyone who writes and successfully runs this script against their own ETH node within the next 12 hours.

👇 https://t.co/k6IKspum3O

— Bitcoin is Saving (@BitcoinIsSaving) August 7, 2020

Rochard is pushing for legislators to instead draft a bill that holds various amendments regarding the Judiciary Act of 1789, then passing the said bill. The bill in question Rochard wants to be passed would see that the US Marshals Service could hold on to any Bitcoin it’s received through a seizure.

Rochard warned against the auctioning of the Bitcoin, 69,370 in total, through a blog he published, as well. As for the BTC itself, it was seized back in November by the IRS, taken from someone alleged to be a hacker from the Silk Road. Something of note is the fact that the US Attorney’s office had already filed a civil complaint for forfeiture of this seized BTC.

Pushing For A BTC Reserve For The US

Rochard kept emphasizing the urgent need for the legislation to be updated. The man seems to anticipate the US Marshals Service to win this forfeiture case, which would see all that Bitcoin be auctioned off within six months’ time.

Rochard emphasized the need to speedily pass this new law to stop the auction, and it’s not quite clear if he fully expects to get a bill like that off the ground so quickly or if he thinks every US lawmaker is pro-bitcoin.

As attempted justification, Rochard highlighted that, back in 2014 and 2015, seized Bitcoin auctions saw a total of $122 million be generated through the sale of 144,000 BTC. Should that same amount be auctioned off today, the crypto assets would be traded for an excess of $3.32 billion.

Rochard: Every Govt Will Have A BTC Treasury

The coins seized in November, should it be auctioned today, stands worth around $1.6 billion in total. Rochard, however, suggests that the US would be wiser to hold it long-term, reaping more value in the process. Rochard has urged US lawmakers to allow Congress more time to properly think through how to handle this unique asset.

Rochard emphasized the critical role Bitcoin will play in the treasuries of the world’s national governments. He went as far as to declare that within the next decade, governments will boast sizable sovereign wealth funds of the asset.