US Senator Cynthia Lummis has expressed concern over reports that the government sold seized Bitcoin despite plans for a strategic reserve.
The concern follows claims that the Department of Justice liquidated Bitcoin linked to the Samourai Wallet criminal case.
Senator Lummis, a leading pro-crypto lawmaker, said the government should be retaining seized digital assets.
Why is the US gov still liquidating Bitcoin when @POTUS explicitly directed these assets be preserved for our Strategic Bitcoin Reserve?
Senator Cynthia Lummis said.
She added that failing to hold Bitcoin could weaken the United States as other countries continue accumulating the asset.
Bitcoin Magazine reported that the US Marshals Service appeared to have sold around $6.3 million worth of Bitcoin tied to the case.
The Bitcoin was allegedly forfeited by Samourai Wallet developers Keonne Rodriguez and William Lonergan Hill as part of a guilty plea.
Samourai Wallet was a coin-mixing application that allowed users to obscure Bitcoin transaction histories.
The Department of Justice shut down the platform in 2024, accusing it of operating as an unlicensed money transmitting business.