![图片[1]-Alert! The US may soon sell 69,000 Bitcoins; stolen BTC from the “Silk Road” platform will be confiscated and auctioned off.-OzABC](https://www.ozabc.com/wp-content/uploads/1698158836296-750x375-1.jpg)
In 2020, the U.S. Department of Justice announced the seizure of 69,370 bitcoins and other cryptocurrencies linked to the dark web site Silk Road. Following the U.S. Supreme Court’s rejection of an appeal related to ownership of these bitcoins, U.S. Marshals or other agencies may soon begin processing these seized assets in accordance with the law.
Silk Road, launched in 2011, was the first modern darknet marketplace rife with illicit transactions, including arms dealing, drug trafficking, and identity/passport information. It operated under the guise of popular Bitcoin transactions, but was shut down by US law enforcement in 2013.
In 2020, the US Department of Justice announced the seizure of 69,370 bitcoins (currently worth approximately $4.33 billion) and other cryptocurrencies from the “Individual X” hacker address that stole assets from Silk Road. This was the largest cryptocurrency seizure in US history.
The US Supreme Court rejected the appeal.
After years of litigation, the US Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals issued an order late last year, upholding the initial ruling made in August 2023, formally forfeiting the 69,370 bitcoins and other cryptocurrencies associated with Silk Road.
It’s worth noting that, according to an earlier report by Protos, after the Silk Road collapse in 2013, a venture capital firm called Battle Born Investments purchased Silk Road’s bankruptcy filing. Based on this, Battle Born claims ownership of the 69,370 bitcoins stolen by “Individual X”.
Battle Born claims that it is “the innocent owner of all the defendants’ property, based on its role as the purchaser of the bankruptcy estate.” However, since the Supreme Court decided not to hear the case, a forfeiture order from the US District Court may prevail.
Because the court has ordered the US government to dispose of the forfeited defendants’ property according to law, US Marshals or other agencies may soon receive court instructions to sell the 69,370 bitcoins stolen from Silk Road, potentially having a headwind effect on bitcoin prices.
Silk Road Founder Agrees to Assets Transfer to US Government
Ross Ulbricht, founder of Silk Road, amassed a fortune of $1.2 billion during the road’s short two-year operation. However, he was arrested in October 2013, sentenced to life imprisonment without parole in 2015, and ordered to pay $183 million in restitution.
In 2021, Ross Ulbricht reached an agreement with prosecutors, relinquishing any rights to 69,370 bitcoins and other cryptocurrencies seized by US authorities, agreeing to have these assets auctioned by the US government to offset a $183 million debt owed to the US government.
The US Government Holds Over 200,000 bitcoins
The US government, the largest holder of bitcoins, seized over 200,000 bitcoins from cybercriminals and darknet markets in three separate enforcement actions between November 2020 and 2022. These bitcoins are currently primarily stored in encrypted, password-protected offline cold wallets controlled by the US Department of Justice, IRS, or other agencies.
The main sources of Bitcoin seized by the US government are as follows:
November 2020: 69,369 BTC seized from Silkroad, the largest darknet marketplace.
January 2022: 94,643 BTC seized from Bitfinex hackers.
March 2022: 51,326 BTC seized from Silkroad hacker James Zhong. The US government still holds 41,500 BTC of this amount.
Whether these Bitcoins will exert selling pressure on the market in the future will be continuously monitored by www.ozabc.com.
![图片[2]-Alert! The US may soon sell 69,000 Bitcoins; stolen BTC from the “Silk Road” platform will be confiscated and auctioned off.-OzABC](https://www.ozabc.com/wp-content/uploads/Xnip2024-10-08_09-42-37-1024x359-1.jpg "Xnip2024-10-08_09-42-37 | 动区动趋-最具影响力的区块链新闻媒体")
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