11 months ago
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Final decision to confiscate approximately 70,000 BTC
On the 20th, a US appeals court made a final decision to forfeit Bitcoin (BTC) and its offshoot assets abandoned by Ross Ulbricht, the founder of the dark web market Silk Road. found.
With this decision, 69,370 BTC (equivalent to approximately 432,044 million yen) will be added to the assets seized by the US government related to Silk Road. The timing of the disposal of these assets, along with the previously seized assets (balance of approximately 40,000 BTC), is attracting attention in the market.
The timing of this is also interesting. A conspiracy theorist might say these 69,370 #BTC are now a key part of the collateral backing these ETF roll-outs.
The government & proxies get the benefit of price appreciation on their actual BTC as billions flow into the new, fake BTC… https://t.co/lgQ1RgeGQC
— Max Keiser (@maxkeiser) December 21, 2023
The timing is also interesting. A conspiracy theorist might say that these 69,370 BTC will now be part of the key collateral for the ETF deployment. Governments and their agents benefit from real BTC price increases as billions of dollars flow into new BTC ETFs. (Max Kaiser, economic journalist and Bitcoin bull)
69,370 BTC was recorded as assets seized from Mr. Ulbricht. The ruling was handed down in August 2022 and will be implemented in the future based on the ruling of the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. The documents filed on the 20th list Silk Road founder Ulbricht as a defendant and the U.S. government as a plaintiff.
Ulbricht ran Silk Road from 2011 to 2013 and is serving a life sentence for money laundering, computer hacking, fraudulent identity trafficking, and drug trafficking conspiracy. The site was shut down by the Federal Bureau of Investigation in late 2013 when Ulbricht was arrested.
In November 2020, the US Department of Justice filed a complaint seeking the seizure of 69,370 BTC (approximately over $100 billion at the time). Specifically, 69,370.22491543 Bitcoin (BTC), 69,370.10730857 Bitcoin Gold (BTG), 69,370.10710518 Bitcoin SV (BSV), and 69,370.12818037 Bitcoin Cash (BCH) were seized.
These assets came from large wallets identified through Chainalysis tools and investigative cooperation, and were in the possession of Individual X, which was managing assets stolen from Silk Road. In 2015, Individual X cashed out some of the stolen funds, but the majority remained in Individual X’s wallets. These assets were then transferred to the control of the US government.
At the time, it attracted market attention as 69,369 BTC was transferred from a large wallet address. The movement of large funds is constantly monitored, as large-scale sales can affect Bitcoin prices.
Ulbricht agreed to provide Bitcoin as payment for a debt owed to the US government in 2022, giving up his rights to 69,470 BTC.
connection:Approximately 140,000 Bitcoins seized Five years after Silk Road founder’s arrest, over 85,000 people have signed a petition asking for leniency
BTC seizure case related to Silk Road
Ulbricht is not the only Bitcoin seizure linked to Silk Road. The US government has seized Bitcoin from at least two defendants, including 50,676 BTC ($3.36 billion at the time) from James John in November 2022.
John pleaded guilty to wire fraud and was arrested in 2012 for stealing Bitcoin from Silk Road.
In March of this year, 9,861.17 BTC (approximately $216 million) of the assets seized from John were sold, according to documents filed in court. The remaining 41,490 BTC will be divided and sold. Currently, only 41,490 BTC is recorded in the U.S. government wallet monitored by the community.
connection:US investigators seize Bitcoin worth 150 billion yen
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