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$1 billion worth of bitcoin seized by the US government possibly with relation to Silk Road 

$1 billion worth of bitcoin seized by the US government possibly with relation to Silk Road 

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  • The Department of Justice in the United States revealed early this week that the US is suing for the forfeiture of thousands of bitcoins that are worth more than $1 billion at the time of writing. 
  • The seizure of these bitcoins is in relation to the early darknet market Silk Road and is according to the department, the biggest that has ever been conducted in the US.

The Department of Justice in the United States revealed early this week that the US is suing for the forfeiture of thousands of bitcoins that are worth more than $1 billion at the time of writing. The seizure of these bitcoins is in relation to the early darknet market Silk Road and is according to the department, the biggest that has ever been conducted in the US.

Almost 70,000 bitcoins have been seized according to the court documents with prosecutors saying that an unknown hacker stole the lump sum from silk Road and shifted it to a wallet where it sat from April 2013 until the seizure earlier this week.

Interestingly, the individual had granted the government to do the seizure.

This was the very first transaction from the address since 2015 when over 100 bitcoins were transferred to a now-closed crypto exchange known as BTC-e. Recently, the blockchain intelligence company known as Elliptic highlighted that a wallet possibly belonging to the Silk Road marketplace shifted more than $1 billion worth of bitcoin this week. The co-founder of the intelligence company Tom Robinson noted that the coins could have been moved by Ross Ulbricht, the operator of the darknet platform who is currently in prison for his crimes of creating Silk Road. 

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