Andre Yoskowitz
18 Nov 2014 23:41
The U.S. Marshals Service has announced that it will be auctioning off 50,000 Bitcoins seized from the alleged operator of the Silk Road drug marketplace.
At current Bitcoin pricing, the coins should bring in about $19 million USD. The coins were found in the digital wallet of Ross Ulbricht, who is accused of running the online bazaar for drugs found in the Tor deepnet.
Five months ago, the Marshals sold 30,000 seized Bitcoins following the raid in October 2013 in which the marketplace was shut down.
Bidders will have a six-hour window on December 4th to bid on the lots which will breakdown as 10 blocks of 2000 Bitcoins each followed by 10 blocks of 3000 Bitcoins each. Bidders will have to go through a background check to ensure they are not connected to the Silk Road or Ulbricht.
Even after the two auctions, the Marshals will have plenty of remaining coins to sell. In total, nearly 174,000 Bitcoins were seized in connection with the Silk Road. There are plans to auction the remaining currency in the coming months.
Source:
NYT