The U.S. Court of Appeals has formally authorised the confiscation of 69,370 BTC (about $3 billion) held by the closed darknet marketplace Silk Road.
The decision also covers an equivalent amount of forks of Bitcoin Cash, Bitcoin SV and Bitcoin Gold.
The court affirmed the initial decision issued in August.
The United States government is named as the plaintiff in the order; the defendant is who is serving two life sentences, the Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht.
The U.S. Department of Justice arrested the assets in November 2020. At that time, the coins were worth about $1 billion.
According to court documents, authorities gained control of the funds from a person using the alias Individual X, who hacked Silk Road and stole the assets. From the darknet marketplace they were withdrawn on 6 May 2012.
Analysts say the U.S. government is one of the largest holders of bitcoin. As of October, authorities controlled 194,188 BTC.