US Auctions 30,000 Silk Road Bitcoins

The US Marshals Service has auctioned off just less than 30,000 of the Bitcoins police seized during the investigation of Silk Road, the Tor- based drug bazaar.

Nine blocks of 3,000 Bitcoins and one block of 2,657, all taken from Silk Road servers, were sold off on Friday. Winners of the batches of Bitcoin, worth more than $17 million in total, will be notified today by 5pm ET.

Winners have until tomorrow, 1 July, to pay the money they owe or the deal will be cancelled, the US Marshals Service said.

Silk Road Bitcoin sale

Various organisations have expressed their interest in the auction, including SecondMarket, an online marketplace for buying and selling illiquid assets that was running a syndicate to help 42 bidders potentially get their hands on some of the coins.

After the arrest of Ross Ulbricht, the alleged creator of Silk Road, the US government is sitting on an additional 144,000 Bitcoins.

Ulbricht is due to face trial in November. He has pleaded not guilty to the charges levelled at him.

Silk Road was shut down back in September. Another three men have been separately charged with helping run Silk Road, whilst dealers involved in selling gear on the site were arrested.

Anyone who wanted to participate in the auction had to send a $200,000 deposit by wire transfer originating from a bank located within the US and provide a copy of a government-issued photo ID, meaning their anonymity would not be protected.

If multiple bids hit the top offer, the first one to put their name in the hat will win the block.

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