Federal prosecutors request confiscation of more than 500 Bitcoin (BTC) (value of about $ 5.5 million) seized at the time of investigation of a group producing false identities documents, according to the press release of March 1 of the Department of Justice of Ohio

A grand federal jury indicted four people from Ohio for producing and transferring fake driver's licenses and identity cards from different US states.

With BTC, prosecutors are also demanding the confiscation of more than $ 8,000 in cash, as well as gold and silver coins and bullion worth approximately $ 265,000. If the prosecutors win the case, then the BTC, along with the other listed properties, will be seized by the government.

The US government has already sold Bitcoin confiscated following criminal convictions. The US Marshals Service has periodically held auctions of cryptographic assets seized, selling 3,813 bitcoins last January.

Proceeds from the sale of the 144,336 BTC were confiscated from Ross Ulbricht after his conviction for founding and defunct The Black Market Online Silk Road, was equal to approximately $ 48 million, an average of $ 334 per Bitcoin. If the government had sold the BTC today, it would have made more than $ 1.5 billion.

Government auctions of cryptographic assets seized are not limited to the United States. Last year, the Ukrainian government joined Bitfury Group to create a transparent platform for crypto-currency auctions.