Silk Road founder gave up $2,7 billion worth of bitcoins in favor of the US authorities

69 370 BTC will be auctioned off, with part of the proceeds going to pay Ross Ulbricht’s fine

23.04.2022 - 10:20

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What’s new? The founder of the Silk Road darknet marketplace, Ross Ulbricht, gave up his rights to 69 370 BTC ($2,7 billion at the exchange rate on April 23, 2022). Under the deal with the US authorities, the seized bitcoins will be auctioned off, with part of the proceeds going to pay a fine of $183 million that Ulbricht was ordered by a court. The auction date has not yet been set.

Court ruling

Details of the case. Silk Road was subject to a hack in 2013, which resulted in a hacker withdrawing 69 370 BTC. In 2015, Ulbricht was sentenced to life imprisonment without parole. In 2020, the US law enforcement authorities managed to seize the stolen cryptocurrency from an unknown hacker.

In February 2021, the Justice Department struck a deal with the Silk Road creator that will extinguish any of Ulbricht’s rights to the stolen bitcoins in exchange for restitution to be paid after the auction:

“The parties agree that the net proceeds realized from the sale of the [bitcoin] forfeited pursuant to this agreement shall be credited toward any unpaid balance of the Money Judgment,” the statement said.

What had happened before? In April, the German Federal Criminal Police (BKA) disabled the German servers of the Russian darknet marketplace Hydra. The law enforcement authorities seized 543 BTC. The case had been under investigation since August 2021 jointly with the US authorities.

Also in late March, the largest hack of the DeFi protocol took place, as a result of which a hacker withdrew $625 million in cryptocurrency from the Ronin Network sidechain. The FBI and US Treasury Department linked this attack to hackers from North Korea.

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