Resume:
- US authorities have sold more than 9,000 Bitcoins forfeited by Ross Ulbricht in the Silk Road case, a darknet marketplace that shut down in 2013.
- The government liquidated $216 million in BTC and paid approximately $215,000 in fees per injunction on March 14.
- US authorities plan to liquidate another 41,490 BTC in four trenches during the remainder of 2023.
The US government liquidated 9,800 Bitcoin (BTC) forfeited by Ross Williams Ulbricht, the creator of the defunct darknet market website Silk Road which opened in 2011. According to the court registrationsauthorities sold the 9,800 BTC on March 14 for approximately $216 million. Authorities also paid about $215,000 in transaction fees.
Data from TradingView showed that BTC traded as much as 26,400 on the same day.
Ulbricht forfeited a total of nearly 51,400 BTC to the US government after his arrest in 2013. US authorities now have approximately 41,490 Bitcoin after selling 9,800 BTC in March 2023. The lawsuit noted that the government intends to to liquidate more BTC throughout the year.
The US government has not disclosed any specific liquidation periods for its Silk Road BTC purse. However, the rest of the forfeited Bitcoin will be sold in four batches over the course of this calendar year — 2023, the filing shows.
It is unclear whether BTC’s liquidation by US authorities had any significant impact on Bitcoin’s price on March 14 or beyond.
Crypto’s Leading Coin Could Experience Selling Pressure Between US Liquidations and Mt. Gox refunds expected to take place this fall. In particular, two of Mt. Gox opted for an early payment in BTC, allaying fears that the exchange will be forced to ditch crypto for fiat to meet payment demands.
51,000 Bitcoin seized from Silk Road, Ulbricht sentenced to life
Ross William Ulbricht created the Silk Road darknet web marketplace in 2011 that accepted digital payments in BTC. Later in 2013, Ulbricht was arrested for operating a platform that facilitated money laundering, narcotics sales and other illegal services.
U.S. authorities sentenced Ulbricht to life in prison. The Silk Road Dark website was also shut down and more than 51,000 Bitcoin was forfeit by Ulbricht as part of the case.