(Before the first USMS aution, some people speculated that those ~30'000 bitcoins would be worth more than ordinary bitcoins in the future; both for having been "blessed" by the US government, and for their historical value, having been through SilkRoad and its takedown. But no one mentions that now. The "collectors overprice" of those bitcoins now must be the same as that of the the dollars that once were in Al Capone's bank account: none at all...)
I don't remember it ever being considered that seriously.
Far more important was the point that the U.S. Govt was selling them at all. That for the first time the powers were de facto admitting bitcoins' legitimate right to exist, as it were. Illegitimate spoils of busts - the drugs themselves for example - aren't auctioned, but destroyed.
The beauty of fungibility then extended that 'blessing' to all bitcoins.
The us government will sell anything under the Rico act. The only reason they dont sell drugs confiscated is because it is illegal as written in the laws. They auction real estate. Personal belongings. Jewelry. Bullion. Alcohol. Anything that is not illegal to possess.




