According to a tweet from Wu Blockchain, over 9,000 Bitcoin (BTC), related to the now-defunct darknet market Silk Road, are moving from addresses that are reportedly in the possession of the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ).
Following the DOJ’s prior sale of 9,800 BTC on March 14 and the upcoming sale of another 41,500 BTC within a year, this action has just taken place.
Notably, 8,200 BTC were transferred to new wallets, while the rest may have simply been moved to different addresses within their original wallets, raising questions.
On the dark web, Silk Road was a well-known black market that specialised in selling illicit drugs. Its primary method of payment was Bitcoin, which rendered transactions essentially untraceable and increased the platform’s appeal to individuals looking to engage in illegal activity.
The platform ran from 2011 until 2013, when it was taken down by the FBI. This resulted in the arrest of Ross Ulbricht, the site’s developer, who is now serving a life sentence without the chance of parole.
Over the years, the US government has occasionally auctioned off Bitcoin that was seized. Both the government’s ability to liquidate confiscated property and the potential for interested investors to purchase substantial sums of Bitcoin have been serviced by the U.S. government’s auctions of Silk Road currency.
Tim Draper, a venture investor, took part in these auctions as one of the most well-known attendees. During a U.S. Marshals Service auction in 2014, Draper made headlines by purchasing roughly 30,000 Bitcoin that had been seized from Silk Road.
Despite ongoing disagreements about the government’s control over associated wallets, the U.S. government sold nearly 10,000 bitcoins in March after seizing over 50,000 from James Zhong, who was found guilty of wire fraud for hacking Silk Road in 2012. The remaining bitcoins will be sold in installments throughout the year, possibly on the Coinbase exchange.
