The U.S. government plans to sell over 41,000 bitcoins confiscated from Silk Road hacker James Zhong, who pleaded guilty to wire fraud in 2022. The bitcoins were seized in November 2022 when the authorities cracked down on the dark web marketplace that facilitated illegal transactions.
According to a court filing, the government sold 9,861 bitcoins for $215.7 million on March 14, 2023. The remaining 41,490 bitcoins are expected to be liquidated in four more batches over this year. The proceeds will go to the U.S. Treasury.
This is not the first time the government has auctioned off bitcoins associated with Silk Road. In 2014, it sold 30,000 bitcoins for $18.7 million. The buyer was venture capitalist Tim Draper, who later became a prominent bitcoin advocate.
The sale of confiscated bitcoins reflects the growing interest and adoption of cryptocurrency, which has surged to new highs in 2023. However, it also raises questions about the impact of such large-scale liquidations on the market and the ethics of profiting from criminal activities.
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