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The United States Court of Appeals has finalized the seizure of 69,370 Bitcoin (BTC) linked to the now-defunct dark world marketplace, Silk Road. While the judgment for this massive Bitcoin forfeiture was passed in August of this year, it officially comes into effect as of Dec. 20, 2023.
This fund is arguably one of the largest forfeitures of all time, and it involves a combination of Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash (BCH), Bitcoin Gold (BTG) and Bitcoin SV (BSV), respectively. The court filing listed the U.S. government as the Plaintiff alongside two Claimants, including Ilija Matukso and Battle Born Investment Company. Ross Ulbricht, the Silk Road marketplace founder, was named the Respondent.
The United States Department of Justice (DOJ) initially seized the funds in 2020, valued at more than $1 billion at the time. Though it has been exploring ways to take complete ownership of the asset since that time, considerable movements have been recorded over the past couple of years.
At the time of writing, the 69,370 BTC is valued at $3,027,033,482.20 based on the current price of Bitcoin, pegged at $43,636.06.
Silk Road Bitcoin billed for liquidation
Based on the historical trends of the U.S. DOJ and the government in general, the forfeited Bitcoin and crypto assets are likely doomed for liquidation soon. As reported earlier by U.Today, the government has conducted a series of sell-offs with 9,800 BTC, amounting to $215.7 million sold off as of March this year.
While there is no template or schedule for this sell-off, the plans to offload more than 45,000 more BTC were uncovered at the time. This sell-off comes despite the incarceration of Ross Ulbricht since he was nabbed back in 2013.
With this forfeiture, another precedent is set and generally underscores how governments have absolute power over the digital currency ecosystem.
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