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.
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.
What do you know about Bitcoin? Take our quiz!
Beijing reportedly begins blocking the use of Intel and AMD chips in government computers, and…
Swedish telecoms giant Ericsson blamed “challenging mobile networks market” and “further volume contraction” for job…
Dramatic downfall. Sam Bankman-Fried sentenced to 25 years in prison for masterminding $8bn fraud that…
Fallout avoidance? Tesla buyers in the US must be shown how to use the FSD…
Amazon completes its $4bn investment into AI firm Anthropic, after providing an additional $2.75bn in…
While AI promises unparalleled efficiency, productivity, and innovation, questions regarding its environmental impact loom large.…