Roughly $2 billion in Bitcoin (BTC) beforehand seized by United States authorities and related to the Silk Highway market has moved to a brand new handle.
In keeping with information from the blockchain on April 2, a pockets recognized to be related to the U.S. Justice Division made a 0.001 Bitcoin transaction to a Coinbase Prime handle — probably as a take a look at transaction. Shortly thereafter, the identical pockets transferred 30,174 BTC, or roughly $2 billion on the time of publication, to a brand new handle. On-line sleuths recognized the DOJ pockets as that containing Bitcoin seized from James Zhong, who in 2022 was convicted of fees related to “unlawfully obtained” crypto from Silk Highway.
Zhong stole greater than 50,000 BTC from Silk Highway in 2012. In 2021, U.S. authorities raided his property and found laborious wallets containing Bitcoin, together with one “on a single-board pc that was submerged underneath blankets in a popcorn tin.” The majority of the seized crypto was despatched to the identical handle that moved greater than 30,000 BTC on April 2.
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In March 2023, U.S. authorities authorities reported that they had bought roughly 9,861 BTC of the crypto seized from Zhong for greater than $215 million, leaving roughly 40,000 BTC. The April 2 transaction adopted the worth of Bitcoin dropping greater than 7% to succeed in $65,475 on the time of publication.
The Silk Highway market, defunct for greater than ten years, allowed customers to purchase and promote illicit items, together with weapons, medicine and stolen bank card data. U.S. authorities arrested its creator, Ross Ulbricht, in 2013. He’s serving two life sentences with out the potential of parole.
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