{"id":31339,"date":"2020-11-05T21:30:01","date_gmt":"2020-11-05T19:30:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/?p=31339"},"modified":"2025-08-28T03:10:52","modified_gmt":"2025-08-28T00:10:52","slug":"u-s-authorities-seize-silk-road%e2%80%91linked-bitcoin-worth-more-than-1-billion-69370-btc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/u1f987.com\/en\/u-s-authorities-seize-silk-road%e2%80%91linked-bitcoin-worth-more-than-1-billion-69370-btc\/","title":{"rendered":"U.S. authorities seize Silk Road\u2011linked Bitcoin worth more than $1 billion \u2014 69,370 BTC"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>On November 3, the U.S. Department of Justice <a href=\"https:\/\/www.blockchain.com\/btc\/tx\/3f036ff88bb851b57a1e28780dbce35a6457a8b57995c095b55b3b0cf48ba9fd\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">seized<\/a> 69,370 BTC. These coins originate from the Silk Road darknet marketplace.<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">About $1 billion of Bitcoin tied to the Silk Road marketplace was seized by the U.S. on Tuesday <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/01FIMgW14Y\">https:\/\/t.co\/01FIMgW14Y<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Bloomberg Crypto (@crypto) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/crypto\/status\/1324402492290015234?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">November 5, 2020<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Authorities also seized an equivalent amount in Bitcoin Cash, Bitcoin SV and Bitcoin Gold. The agency emphasised that this was the largest sum in cryptocurrency ever seized by U.S. authorities.<\/p>\n<p>According to the court filing, the owner of the address, who goes by the alias Invididual X, hacked Silk Road and stole these coins. Earlier, <a href=\"https:\/\/u1f987.com\/en\/news\/69370-btc-moved-from-one-of-the-wealthiest-wallets-hackers-had-been-trying-to-crack-it-for-years\">we reported<\/a> that they were withdrawn from the Silk Road darknet market on May 6, 2012. A year after the withdrawal they were moved to the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.blockchain.com\/btc\/address\/1HQ3Go3ggs8pFnXuHVHRytPCq5fGG8Hbhx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">address<\/a>, where they remained until seizure.<\/p>\n<p>On November 3, Invididual X signed an agreement to hand over the coins to law enforcement. On November 4, the price of the coins surpassed $1 billion as Bitcoin\u2019s price rose.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Individual X managed to hack nearly $1 billion from the old Silk Road Bitcoin accounts.<\/p>\n<p>Then the govt found Individual X and took the Bitcoin back, the DOJ announced today.<\/p>\n<p>Who is Individual X? <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/N0Rra8EqOR\">pic.twitter.com\/N0Rra8EqOR<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Nathaniel Popper (@nathanielpopper) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/nathanielpopper\/status\/1324404769339764736?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">November 5, 2020<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n<\/p>\n<p>The document states that Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht, serving a life sentence, threatened Invididual X in an attempt to recover the funds, but was unsuccessful.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">\u00abUlbricht became aware of Individual X\u2019s online<br \/>\nidentity and threatened Individual X for return of the cryptocurrency to Ulbricht. Individual X did not<br \/>\nreturn the cryptocurrency but kept it and did not spend it.\u00bb<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Alon Gal (Under the Breach) (@UnderTheBreach) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/UnderTheBreach\/status\/1324407321620074498?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">November 5, 2020<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n<\/p>\n<p>Chainalysis assisted authorities in tracing 54 Silk Road transactions.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">This week, the cryptocurrency world reacted to the movement of over $1B in BTC from a long-dormant wallet connected to the Silk Road darknet market. The DOJ announced today this transfer was in fact a govt seizure of funds. Read our blog for the details! <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/JGzZYGBSIW\">https:\/\/t.co\/JGzZYGBSIW<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Chainalysis (@chainalysis) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/chainalysis\/status\/1324423501063852032?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">November 5, 2020<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n<\/p>\n<p>It is believed that Silk Road earned 614 000 BTC in fees, though only 174 000 BTC were seized from Ross Ulbricht at the time of his arrest.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-embedded-content\" data-secret=\"q9wZ9ybvb3\">\n<p>The History of Silk Road: How Bitcoin Elevated the Darknet Economy to a New Level<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-embedded-content\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts\" security=\"restricted\" style=\"position: absolute; visibility: hidden;\" title=\"The History of Silk Road: How Bitcoin Elevated the Darknet Economy to a New Level \u2014 ForkLog\" src=\"https:\/\/u1f987.com\/exclusive\/istoriya-silk-road-kak-bitkoin-vyvel-darknet-ekonomiku-na-novyj-uroven\/embed#?secret=min0Fimw4p#?secret=q9wZ9ybvb3\" data-secret=\"q9wZ9ybvb3\" width=\"500\" height=\"282\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>In the past, U.S. authorities had sold Silk Road Bitcoin at auction. In July 2014, venture capitalist Tim Draper bought 30 000 BTC seized from the darknet marketplace at $632.<\/p>\n<p>Earlier, the wallet.dat file for address Invididual X <a href=\"https:\/\/u1f987.com\/en\/news\/bitcoin-wallet-with-69370-btc-listed-for-sale-on-hacker-forum\">was sold<\/a> on hacker forums for several years. When the 69,370 BTC were moved to another address, many concluded that someone had managed to obtain the private key.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-embedded-content\" data-secret=\"snEnd1xCkD\">\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/u1f987.com\/en\/news\/69370-btc-moved-from-one-of-the-wealthiest-wallets-hackers-had-been-trying-to-crack-it-for-years\">69,370 BTC began moving on one of the richest wallets. Hackers had been breaking into it for years<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-embedded-content\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts\" security=\"restricted\" style=\"position: absolute; visibility: hidden;\" title=\"69,370 BTC began moving on one of the richest wallets. Hackers had been breaking into it for years \u2014 ForkLog\" src=\"https:\/\/u1f987.com\/news\/prishli-v-dvizhenie-69-370-btc-na-odnom-iz-bogatejshih-koshelkov-hakery-vzlamyvali-ego-godami\/embed#?secret=DbPSSxdevd#?secret=snEnd1xCkD\" data-secret=\"snEnd1xCkD\" width=\"500\" height=\"282\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Follow ForkLog on news on <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ForkLog\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">Twitter<\/a>!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>On November 3, the U.S. Department of Justice seized 69,370 BTC linked to the Silk Road darknet marketplace.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":31340,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"select":"1","news_style_id":"","cryptorium_level":"","_short_excerpt_text":"","creation_source":"","_metatest_mainpost_news_update":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[236,26],"class_list":["post-31339","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-and-analysis","tag-silk-road","tag-usa"],"aioseo_notices":[],"amp_enabled":true,"views":"14","promo_type":"1","layout_type":"","short_excerpt":"","is_update":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/u1f987.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31339","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/u1f987.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/u1f987.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/u1f987.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/u1f987.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31339"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/u1f987.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31339\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31341,"href":"https:\/\/u1f987.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31339\/revisions\/31341"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/u1f987.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31340"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/u1f987.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31339"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/u1f987.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31339"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/u1f987.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31339"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}