AfterDawn: News

U.S. Marshals complete auctioning off 30,000 seized Bitcoins

The U.S. Marshals Service confirmed this week that it was done auctioning off nearly 30,000 Bitcoins that were seized during a raid on the Silk Road black market.

At a value of $17.7 million, the Bitcoin auction took about 12 hours on Friday. The coins were auctioned in blocks of 3000 with a final block of 2,657 bitcoins. The Marshals Service will notify all winners on Monday.



The Silk Road online black market was shutdown by the FBI in September 2013, with agents arresting alleged mastermind Ross Ulbricht and taking control of the Silk Road's servers. The 29,657 coins were seized in forfeited in January.

There is little chance that the winning bidders will pay market price for the coins, since millions are available through existing exchanges at the ongoing market rate.

Besides the nearly 30,000, the Marshals have 144,342 Bitcoins seized from Ulbricht that are pending a civil forfeiture proceeding.

Source:
BI

Written by: Andre Yoskowitz @ 28 Jun 2014 11:38

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• 4 comments

• Jemborg

  So I guess this means in any court that bitcoins ARE legitimate currency.
  

  Its a lot easier being righteous than right.
  
  
  DSE VZ300-
  Zilog Z80 CPU, 32KB RAM (16K+16K cartridge), video processor 6847, 2KB video RAM, 16 colours (text mode), 5.25" FDD

  30.6.2014 03:44 #1

• dp70

  Actually they are property subject to seizure as the results of commission of a crime. All such items, except for contraband, can be auctioned-off. The US Marshalls care less what becomes of a forfeited item. Their function is to follow a court order.
  
  Does that mean a Federal Court has ruled them as currency? They are as much currency as the computers confiscated.

  30.6.2014 07:55 #2

• Jemborg

  I wasn't commenting on the seizure itself if that's what you thought. I suppose I could be accused of being redundant or some such.
  
  
  
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  Its a lot easier being righteous than right.
  
  
  DSE VZ300-
  Zilog Z80 CPU, 32KB RAM (16K+16K cartridge), video processor 6847, 2KB video RAM, 16 colours (text mode), 5.25" FDD

  30.6.2014 08:25 #3

• bhetrick

  Originally posted by Jemborg: So I guess this means in any court that bitcoins ARE legitimate currency. I don't think the court looked at it as a form of currency.
  
  I think it was just looked at as nothing more than another "item"; such as auctioning off a car, house, land, Hoover Steam Vac., etc.
  

  30.6.2014 11:00 #4