U.S. officials seize ‘more than $1 billion in bitcoin’ tied to Silk Road: report
Bloomberg News reports that the U.S. Justice Department has seized and is now seeking the forfeiture of thousands of bitcoins tied to the now-defunct Silk Road dark web market, with the holdings valued in excess of $1 billion.
“The cryptocurrency seizure, tied to the Silk Road marketplace, is the largest the U.S. has ever effected, the Justice Department said in a statement,” according to the Terminal report.
The Justice Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The report comes days after 69,369 bitcoins were moved out of a wallet address — the first such activity for the collected holdings since 2015, as The Block previously reported. It is not immediately clear if these funds are connected to the reported Justice Department seizure. But connections have been drawn between the moved bitcoins and the Silk Road, which was shuttered by U.S. law enforcement in 2013.
This news is developing and this report will be updated as more information is obtained.
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Author: Michael McSweeney