A U.S. appeals court has finalized the legal process to confiscate over 69,000 Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies from Silk Road, a defunct dark web marketplace. The court ruling affirms the transfer of the Bitcoin to federal control, following a previous decision that recognized the government’s claim to the digital assets associated with Silk Road’s illegal activities.
The seized Bitcoin assets include Bitcoin gold (BTG), Bitcoin SV (BSV), Bitcoin Cash (BCH), in addition to Bitcoin itself. The U.S. court initially issued a judgment on Silk Road’s Bitcoin in August, after the U.S. Justice Department seized the cryptocurrency in 2020 and filed for its official forfeiture. At the time, the value of the seized Bitcoin exceeded $1 billion.
The U.S. government came into possession of the cryptocurrency after an individual known as “Individual X” surrendered it. This person had hacked into Silk Road and gained control of its funds. The Silk Road hacker, identified as James Zhong, was sentenced to a year in federal prison in April.
In July, a cryptocurrency wallet linked to the United States Department of Justice conducted several transactions, moving around 9,825.25 Bitcoin valued at approximately $299 million, which were connected to Silk Road. The movements of these funds are closely monitored by crypto analysts, as market participants speculate about the potential impact of any large sale by the U.S. government on Bitcoin’s price.
Ross Ulbricht, the founder of Silk Road, was sentenced to life in prison for establishing and running the platform from 2011 to 2013. The FBI shut down the site after Ulbricht’s arrest in late 2013. In 2022, Ulbricht agreed to use $3 billion worth of stolen Bitcoin to settle his debt to the U.S. government and waived his claim to 69,470 Bitcoin.
This News Article was automatically generated by Bob the Bot (AI)
| Information | Details |
|---|---|
| Geography | North America |
| Countries | 🇺🇸 |
| Sentiment | neutral |
| Relevance Score | 1 |
| People | James Zhong, Ross Ulbricht |
| Companies | U.S. Justice Department, U.S. District Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, United States Department of Justice (DOJ), Cointelegraph, Silk Road |
| Currencies | Bitcoin |
| Securities | None |
