U.S. Authorities Auctions Off 30,000 Bitcoins Seized From Silk Road
The bumpy Silk Road saga is finally coming to an end after the U.S. Marshals Service auctioned away some 30,000 Bitcoins that were confiscated from the site. It was a 12-hour auction consisting of nine blocks of 3,000 Bitcoins and a single block of 2,657 Bitcoins. All combined, the confiscated cryptocurrency was worth just shy of $18 million.
Silk Road was once a popular site for purchasing illegal drugs and other shady miscellaneous items. Bitcoin quickly became a preferred method of payment due to its anonymous nature, which had obvious appeal for buyers trying to keep their activities on the down low.
The FBI raided and shutdown Silk Road in September of last year. Silk Road's owner Ross William Ulbricht (or "Dead Pirate Roberts") was arrested in the process
Digging around files in the sites servers yielded authorities 29,655 Bitcoins, all of which were auctioned off on Friday, though not before the U.S. Marshals Service accidentally leaked a list of Bitcoin bidders. Winning bidders will be notified on Monday. In the meantime, the Marshals Services is keeping mum on how many bids it received.
Silk Road was once a popular site for purchasing illegal drugs and other shady miscellaneous items. Bitcoin quickly became a preferred method of payment due to its anonymous nature, which had obvious appeal for buyers trying to keep their activities on the down low.
The FBI raided and shutdown Silk Road in September of last year. Silk Road's owner Ross William Ulbricht (or "Dead Pirate Roberts") was arrested in the process
Digging around files in the sites servers yielded authorities 29,655 Bitcoins, all of which were auctioned off on Friday, though not before the U.S. Marshals Service accidentally leaked a list of Bitcoin bidders. Winning bidders will be notified on Monday. In the meantime, the Marshals Services is keeping mum on how many bids it received.
