- Around $1 billion worth of Bitcoin has been tied to the Silk Road marketplace after 69,369 were moved for the first time since April 2015.
- The U.S. is suing for the forfeiture of funds associated with the Silk Road website which was taken down in 2013.
On November, 3 it was reported that 69,369 were being moved out of the wallet address ‘1HQ3Go3ggs8pFnXuHVHRytPCq5fGG8Hbhx’, the fourth-largest Bitcoin wallet, for the first time since April 2015.
It seems that the wallet was a bounty for hackers and crackers in the past two years as many have attempted to recover the funds inside. People were speculating that a hacker actually got access to the wallet and now the funds have been associated with the Silk Road incident.
It is now known that indeed a hacker got access to the wallet and authorities were forced to seize the funds. This could be a big factor in the recent price spike of Bitcoin towards $15,300. U.S. Attorney David Anderson of the Northern District of California stated:
Silk Road was the most notorious online criminal marketplace of its day, The successful prosecution of Silk Road’s founder in 2015 left open a billion-dollar question. Where did the money go?
The seizure of the 69,369 Bitcoins is currently temporary as the U.S. needs to provide its case before a judge. Nonetheless, it means that a large sum of Bitcoin is out of the market, further increasing buying pressure for the digital asset.
Share
