Breaking: U.S. Justice Department confiscates over $1 billion in Bitcoin tied to Silk Road
- Around $1 billion worth of Bitcoin has been tied to the Silk Road marketplace after 69,369 were moved for the first time since April 2015.
- The U.S. is suing for the forfeiture of funds associated with the Silk Road website which was taken down in 2013.
On November, 3 it was reported that 69,369 were being moved out of the wallet address '1HQ3Go3ggs8pFnXuHVHRytPCq5fGG8Hbhx', the fourth-largest Bitcoin wallet, for the first time since April 2015.
Get this - there is a Bitcoin wallet with 69,000 Bitcoins ($693,207,618) that is being passed around between hackers/crackers for the past 2 years for the purpose of cracking the password, no success so far.
— Alon Gal (Under the Breach) (@UnderTheBreach) September 8, 2020
I have the wallet, @Google hook me up with a quantum computer please. pic.twitter.com/GcIqH7kN98
It seems that the wallet was a bounty for hackers and crackers in the past two years as many have attempted to recover the funds inside. People were speculating that a hacker actually got access to the wallet and now the funds have been associated with the Silk Road incident.
It is now known that indeed a hacker got access to the wallet and authorities were forced to seize the funds. This could be a big factor in the recent price spike of Bitcoin towards $15,300. U.S. Attorney David Anderson of the Northern District of California stated:
Silk Road was the most notorious online criminal marketplace of its day, The successful prosecution of Silk Road’s founder in 2015 left open a billion-dollar question. Where did the money go?
The seizure of the 69,369 Bitcoins is currently temporary as the U.S. needs to provide its case before a judge. Nonetheless, it means that a large sum of Bitcoin is out of the market, further increasing buying pressure for the digital asset.
Author
Lorenzo Stroe
Independent Analyst
Lorenzo is an experienced Technical Analyst and Content Writer who has been working in the cryptocurrency industry since 2012. He also has a passion for trading.
