The judgment was first made in August and has now been cleared to take effect, according to a filing in the U.S. District Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.
A U.S. appeals court has concluded the legal process to officially confiscate 69,370 Bitcoin and other crypto from defunct dark web marketplace Silk Road.
According to a Dec. 20 court filing, the U.S. District Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit has affirmed the transfer of the Bitcoin to federal control. This action follows a prior ruling that declared the government’s claim to the digital assets associated with Silk Road’s illicit operations.
The seized Bitcoin assets also included Bitcoin gold (BTG), Bitcoin SV (BSV), and Bitcoin Cash (BCH), in addition to Bitcoin.
The U.S. court issued the initial judgment on Silk Road’s Bitcoin in August. It followed the U.S. Justice Department‘s 2020 seizure and subsequent motion for official forfeiture of the cryptocurrency. At that time, the value of the seized Bitcoin exceeded $1 billion.
The initial 2020 complaint laid out that the U.S. government had gained possession of the cryptocurrency, which a person known as “Individual X.” had surrendered. This individual had hacked into Silk Road and taken control of its funds.
Cointelegraph’s previous coverage identifies the Silk Road hacker as James Zhong. Zhong, now 32, was sentenced to a year in federal prison in April.
On July 12, a cryptocurrency wallet linked to the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) conducted several transactions, moving about 9,825.25 Bitcoin valued at approximately $299 million, connected to Silk Road.
Crypto analysts closely track the movements of the funds, as market participants frequently speculate about the possible impact any large sale by the U.S. government could have on Bitcoin’s price.
Ross Ulbricht, sentenced to life in prison, established and ran the Silk Road from 2011 to 2013, a platform notorious for selling drugs and weapons. The FBI closed the site after Ulbricht’s arrest in late 2013.
In 2022, Ulbricht agreed to utilize $3 billion worth of stolen Bitcoin to settle his debt to the U.S. government. Additionally, he waived his claim to 69,470 Bitcoin.
Source: Cointelegraph.com
