US Appeals Court Finalizes Forfeiture of Silk Road Bitcoins

A U.S. appeals court has issued a mandate that formalizes the forfeiture of 69,370 Bitcoins and other cryptocurrencies linked to the now-defunct Silk Road dark web market.

The ruling, confirming the judgment from August 18, 2023, marks the official conclusion of a legal saga that originated with the 2013 arrest of Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht, also known as “Dread Pirate Roberts.”

Seizure of Silk Road Bitcoins Finalized

The judgment, initially rendered in August, is now set to take effect following a filing in the U.S. District Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. The filing on Wednesday lists Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht as a defendant, along with two claimants and the U.S. government as the plaintiff.

The U.S. government gained control of the cryptocurrency after it was relinquished by an entity called “Individual X,” who hacked into Silk Road and took control of its funds, as per the original complaint.

In 2020, the U.S. Justice Department seized and initiated the official forfeiture process for the cryptocurrency, valued at over $1 billion. Notably, 69,369 Bitcoins were moved out of a wallet address a few days before this action, marking the first such activity for the collected holdings since 2015, as previously reported.

Meanwhile, the movements of these funds are closely monitored, as market participants often speculate about the potential impact that a large sale by the U.S. government could have on the price of Bitcoin.

The Silk Road Case

Ross Ulbricht’s Silk Road, operating from 2011 to 2013, served as a hidden marketplace accessible exclusively through the anonymizing Tor network.

It facilitated the illicit trade of drugs, weapons, and other contraband using Bitcoin, which was then an emerging cryptocurrency. The platform’s veil of anonymity attracted millions of users but also drew the attention of law enforcement, ultimately leading to Ulbricht’s arrest and conviction in 2015.

Initially, lower courts sided with the government, but Ulbricht’s appeal set off years of legal battles. The recent ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit definitively settled the matter. Dismissing Ulbricht’s claims, the court upheld the lower court’s decision, finalizing the forfeiture of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, now significantly more valuable due to BTC’s extraordinary price surge.

Ulbricht’s legal team has criticized the forfeiture, contending that it violated his property rights and set a potentially problematic precedent for the seizure of digital assets without proof of individual wrongdoing.