US Seized More Than $1B in Silk Road–Linked Bitcoins, Seeks Forfeiture
The U.S. is suing for the forfeiture of thousands of bitcoins, totaling more than $1 billion, that it recently seized, Bloomberg reported Thursday, citing a U.S. Department of Justice statement.
- The seizure on Tuesday, tied to early darknet market Silk Road, is the largest the U.S. has ever conducted, Bloomberg said, citing the DOJ.
- Court documents reveal the seized funds include over 69,370 bitcoin and nearly equivalent amounts of forked cryptos bitcoin cash (BCH), bitcoin gold (BTG) and bitcoin satoshi vision (BSV).
- Prosecutors say an unnamed hacker stole the trove from Silk Road and moved them to a wallet where they sat from April 2013 until the Tuesday seizure.
- The individual consented to the government seizure on Tuesday.
- The news comes days after blockchain intelligence firm Elliptic reported that a wallet possibly belonging to the Silk Road marketplace moved almost $1 billion worth of bitcoin earlier this week.
- This was the first transaction from the address since 2015, when it transferred 101 BTC to BTC-e – a now-shuttered cryptocurrency exchange allegedly favored by money launderers, Elliptic said. BTC-e operator Alexander Vinnik has been in custody in Europe since 2017.
- Earlier this week, Elliptic co-founder Tom Robinson speculated the coins may have been moved by imprisoned Silk Road operator Ross Ulbricht or a Silk Road vendor.
- Ulbricht – who operated under the pseudonym Dread Pirate Roberts – operated the darknet website from 2011 until his arrest in 2013 and is currently serving a life sentence.
This is a developing story.
