9,800 Bitcoins Seized from Darknet Marketplace Silk Road Start Moving
The US government have been engaged in a concerted effort to liquidate their holdings of cryptocurrencies seized from the Silk Road darknet marketplace.
In multiple transactions, government-affililiated wallets transferred over 9,824 BTC (~$300 million at the time of writing).
On July 12, 2021, that number increased with 8,200 BTC (~$250M) and 1,118 BTC (~$34M) being moved to two anonymous wallets.
Additionally, 506 Bitcoins (~$15.5 million) were distributed to several wallets, with 158 BTC (~$4.86 million) of that total making its way to Binance.
In March 2023, the DOJ seized 9,861 BTC for $215 million – only part of the assets acquired from Ross Ulbricht, the marketplace founder convicted in 2015 of, among other crimes, running a darknet market and drug trafficking.
There were plans for the remaining 41,491 BTC to be liquidated in four batches throughout the year. The American government then seized 69,370 BTC associated with Silk Road in November 2020.
As per court documents, the address connected to the case belonged to an individual listed under the pseudonym Invididual X, who had gained access to the funds after hacking
