The United States Section of Justice is planning to sell $56 one thousand thousand worth of cryptocurrency seized in connexion with its instance against Ponzi scheme BitConnect.

In a Tuesday announcement, the Justice Department said it would sell the seized crypto and concur the gain in U.Due south. dollars until it could use the funds to provide restitution to BitConnect victims. The U.S. government is currently belongings the $56 meg in crypto in wallets, and said the amount of compensation to those afflicted by BitConnect's fraud would depend on a "future restitution order by the court at sentencing."

"This liquidation is the largest single recovery of a cryptocurrency fraud by the United States to engagement," said the Justice Department, indicating that BitConnect was the largest cryptocurrency fraud scheme in the U.S. for which criminal charges had been filed.

It's unclear through what means the U.South. regime would handle the sale of millions of dollars worth of cryptocurrency, or what effect information technology may take on the toll of major assets similar Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH). According to information from Cointelegraph Markets Pro, the BTC cost is hovering close to $lx,000 later dropping roughly 7% Tuesday, while the price of ETH is $4,254 at the time of publication, following a similar drop.

The actors behind BitConnect were responsible for running a fraudulent unregistered securities offering that netted them $2 billion. The project's former director and promoter Glenn Arcaro pled guilty to fraud charges in September and has been ordered to pay $24 million to BitConnect's victims.

The Securities and Substitution Commission, or SEC, also filed charges against both Arcaro and BitConnect founder Satish Kumbhani, whose whereabouts are unknown at the time of publication. Settlements with the SEC for other individuals involved in the Ponzi scheme are pending, but many people are facing prison fourth dimension or astringent financial penalties for their role in allegedly scamming investors.

Related: SEC charges v for illegally promoting $2 billion Bitconnect Ponzi scheme

Created in 2022, BitConnect had promoters lure investors with promises of large returns, enticing them to use BTC equally collateral confronting which they could borrow and trade the platform'south native token. The lending platform closed in 2022 later stop and desist orders from country regulators, leaving many investors unable to redeem their crypto holdings.