Key Takeaways:
- The remaining Bitcoin from the Ross Ulbricht Silk Road case that was seized by American officials will be sold in four installments this year.
- About 9,800 BTC connected to the case were already sold by the government earlier this month.
Ross Williams Ulbricht, the brains behind the now-defunct darknet market website Silk Road, lost 9,800 Bitcoin (BTC), which the US government liquidated. Silk Road was founded in 2011. Court documents state that on March 14 the government sold the 9,800 BTC for about $216 million. Authorities also paid approximately $215,000 in transaction fees.
The per-coin price of approximately $21,877 was $2,000 less than the going rate on that specific day. The sale had no effect on bitcoin’s price, which rose 2.43% on the day of the trade.
The U.S. government confiscated the Bitcoin as part of an inter-agency operation to shut down Silk Road, a darknet market founded by Ross Ulbricht. Authorities seized approximately 51,351 BTC connected to the case, per a court filing.
Initially, users could purchase and sell illegal items like weapons and credit card data on the Silk Road market, which has been shut down for ten years. But the market also caught the eye of American law enforcement, who detained Ulbricht in 2013. He is presently imprisoned for two life terms without the chance of release.
For its Silk Road BTC bag, the U.S. authorities did not provide any precise liquidation times. The filing revealed that the remaining forfeited Bitcoin will be sold in four batches throughout this fiscal year, 2023.Uncertainty exists regarding the impact of the BTC liquidation by American officials on the price of Bitcoin on March 14 or later.
The transaction is related to the case against James Zhong, who was charged in September 2012 with wire fraud after allegedly acquiring more than 50,000 bitcoin from the darknet market Silk Road. Zhong pleaded guilty in November 2022; Zhong’s sentencing is scheduled for the following month.
In conclusion, 51,351.89785803 Bitcoin linked to Silk Road that were seized and priced at $3,388,817,011.90 have been sought as forfeiture by the government. This comprises:
- On November 9, 2021, 50,491.06251844 BTC were taken from Zhong’s residence;
- 825.38833159 Bitcoin provided by Zhong on March 25, 2022
- On May 25, 2022, Zhong gave a total of 35.4470080 Bitcoin.
