48,998 BTC Seized from Silk Road Are Transferred to Other Addresses

Analyst firm PeckShield has reported that 48,998 BTC valued at more than $1.08 billion confiscated by the US government from the darknet marketplace Silk Road have gone into motion.

According to company analysts, 30,174 BTC and 8,999 BTC have been sent to two new wallets, while another 9,825 BTC have been transferred to US crypto exchange Coinbase.

Two US law enforcement addresses had 51,352 BTC seized from Silk Road in November 2021 and March 2022.

A court found in 2015 Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht guilty of operating a darknet marketplace and other crimes, including drug trafficking and a money laundering conspiracy. He was sentenced to life imprisonment.

In 2019, venture capitalist Tim Draper campaigned for Ulbricht’s release. In March 2020, a petition with a similar demand garnered 275,000 signatures.

Later, billionaire Elon Musk called the sentencing of the Silk Road founder a failure. According to him, the reasons for the punishment “certainly were, but the sentence seems excessive to me.”