[Tuna-Fish]

> I could imagine the FBI simply deleting the wallets but does anyone know their actual policy?

In the US, law enforcement gets to keep a portion of whatever they seize. You can bet your ass they will not destroy millions worth of assets -- entire departments will get bonuses for years for this.

Law requires them to liquidate the assets through auctions, they cannot simply sell them at an exchange, or set a price for them and sell them at that price. There are plenty of companies that specialize in organizing such events.

[wmf]

An exchange is an auction, but I'm sure there's some regulatory capture here that won't allow the government to use any existing exchange. There may be a business opportunity here.

[sp332]

"Regulatory capture" means the regulators are working with the regulated organization instead of controlling it.

[wmf]

Yes, that's what I meant. I suspect some government contractors have convinced the government that everything (e.g. selling seized property) needs to be done by specialized government contractors rather than normal businesses or by the government itself.