The US Justice Department Made the Largest-Ever Seizure of Cryptocurrency

by Samuel White

The US Department of Justice confiscated 69,370 bitcoins. At the current cryptocurrency rate of $15,323, it approximately equals $1,06 billion. It is the largest amount of cryptocurrency that the US authorities have ever confiscated.

Bitcoin Hits $14,000 on US Presidential Election Day
It’s no surprise that the new Bitcoin leap coincided with the US presidential elections. In previous elections, the situation was the same: in November 2016, the Bitcoin rate rushed up, and the cryptocurrency rose from $700 to $20,000 by mid-December 2017.
The Internet ProtocolIvan Tkachenko

The seized bitcoins belonged to the Silk Road's founder, Ross Ulbricht. Silk Road is an online black-market best known for selling illegal drugs and weapons using bitcoins. Federal authorities shut down the marketplace in 2013. In 2015, Silk Road's founder Ross Ulbricht, with the pseudonym Dread Pirate Roberts, was sentenced to life in prison for drug dealing and money laundering. About 175,000 bitcoins were seized from him, and it was less than half of the 600,000 bitcoins federal authorities believed the site received in commission.

"Silk Road was the most notorious online criminal marketplace of its day," US Attorney David Anderson of the Northern District of California said.

Fifty-four illegal Silk Road transactions were discovered that previously were unnoticed. At the same time, it turned out that a certain hacker stole the bitcoins obtained from these transactions in 2012 and 2013.

PayPal Launches New Service to Let Users Buy and Sell Cryptocurrencies
PayPal made every effort for the cryptocurrency market development. Popular payment service announced a new service enabling its customers to buy, hold, and sell cryptocurrency directly from their PayPal account.
The Internet ProtocolSamuel White

As a result, the funds were withdrawn from the user's wallet, known as "Individual X." According to US authorities, this is the same hacker who hacked the Silk Road darknet site. On November 3, he signed an agreement to transfer bitcoins to US law enforcement. On the same day, 69,370 bitcoins from 2013 were transferred to a new wallet. It was the first transfer of these funds since 2015. According to the American authorities, the seized bitcoins will be sold at an auction.