next »

[Desai]

Last fall, the FBI took down the world’s biggest online drug bazaar Silk Road, and arrested the man it alleged to be its kingpin, Ross Ulbricht, 30. The feds seized the site’s assets and Ulbricht’s which were primarily the currency of choice for anonymous purchases: Bitcoin. A whole lot of Bitcoin: 144,000 from Ulbricht and 30,000 from Silk Road coffers, worth over $100 million at Bitcoin’s current $600 valuation. Nine months later, the government is ready to auction some of it off.

The Bitcoin is a public ledger, and if your identity gets linked to a wallet or address, everyone can see when you move coins. That’s what happened to the feds Thursday. The federally-seized Bitcoin was moved out of the two addresses — here and here — where it had been stored, a huge transfer of funds that was noted by those watching Bitcoin activity such as market data app Zeroblock. The Bitcoin addresses had been notated on Blockchain.info as “Silk Road Seized Coin” and “DPR Seized Coins” (for Dread Pirate Roberts, the pseudonym assumed by Silk Road’s overlord).

“We are moving the Bitcoin in preparation for a sale,” says Lynzey Donahue, a spokesperson for the U.S. Federal Marshals, the agency tasked with selling off seized assets. The Marshals issued a press release, explaining that they are auctioning off the 30,000 seized from Silk Road, but not the coins seized from Ulbricht.

It’s an Ebay style auction with the government asking for real money in exchange for the digital version. The bitcoin will be auctioned off in blocks of 3,000 Bitcoin (or about $1.8 million each) over a 12-hour period in two weeks, on June 27 from 6 a.m. until 6 p.m. ET. “Bids will be accepted by email from registered bidders using a form available from the U.S. Marshals Web page,” says the release. You have to pay to play. Those planning to make a bid have to make a “refundable” deposit of $200K.

Props to the government on its trading skills. The Bitcoin is worth six times as much as when it was first seized by the government in October 2013, though it was worth more a few months back.



The new addresses for the Bitcoin are here (29,658 Bitcoin from the Silk Road) and here (144,341 Bitcoin from Ross Ulbricht). Ulbricht, who has plead not guilty, claimed his Bitcoin aren’t subject to civil forfeiture rules.

“The civil forfeiture action has been stayed pending the outcome of the criminal case,” said Ulbricht’s lawyer, Joshua Dratel, by email.

Update: The price of Bitcoin is plunging in response to the news. It looks like Bitcoin traders are doing their best to ensure the government doesn’t get the most out of its auction.




Source:  http://www.forbes.com/sites/kashmirhill/2014/06/12/silk-road-bitcoin-on-the-move-as-government-prepares-to-auction-off-18-million-worth/

[Desai]

This is the problem with bitcoin , any big guy can change the game.

[Desai]

Current rate is $556,

10 days ago it was , $665 on 3rd June,2014. 

[clickinator]

How can government sell the bitcoins when they do not rightfully own them its like coppers taking drugs off you and then sell them for there own profits ?
This should not be allowed they should just leave them floating without anybody using them 

[Desai]

How can government sell the bitcoins when they do not rightfully own them its like coppers taking drugs off you and then sell them for there own profits ?
This should not be allowed they should just leave them floating without anybody using them 

That happens all the time,
All government do it.

Drugs are mostly destroyed. Goods are sold or auctioned.

[insidmal]

How can government sell the bitcoins when they do not rightfully own them its like coppers taking drugs off you and then sell them for there own profits ?
This should not be allowed they should just leave them floating without anybody using them 

they confiscated it.. it's there's now...

..the amount of bitcoins they collected though may be a good clue of why the US decided to accept bitcoin and write it into tax code rather than try and ban it like other countries 

[JustClick]

they confiscated it.. it's there's now...

..the amount of bitcoins they collected though may be a good clue of why the US decided to accept bitcoin and write it into tax code rather than try and ban it like other countries 

Those countries who are not able to Understand Bitcoin so far are either Banning it or Warned Citizens not to get Involved.

In India too We got warned not to involved but not restricted so far .. Miner are still getting imported.  But i found Mining is not profitable anymore. I am looking for someone who can take away my miner and learn if he is not aware of Bitcoin.

Let see what will be the future ..