US authorities have claimed to have seized 144,336 bitcoins valued at $28 million from a computer hardware belonging to Silk Road founder Ross William Ulbricht aka “Dread Pirate Roberts.”
Feds seized Silk Road domain at the start of this month following the arrest of Ulbricht. The Silk Road founder has been charged with narcotics trafficking conspiracy as well as money laundering and computer hacking conspiracies. According to the Federal prosecutors in New York the latest seizure is the largest ever in the history of the digital currency.
Silk Road is believed to have begun its operations as early as 2011 and according to latest statistics had over 900,000 registered users who were involved with activities such as drug dealing; counterfeiting; and other such criminal activities. Users were able to procure or hire anything ranging from heroine to a contract killer.
Bitcoin has been in circulation since 2008, but it caught the attention of Feds after it was believed that the digital currency was the primary medium of transacting on Silk Road. According to court filings, bitcoins valued at $1.2 billion changed hands on Silk Road during its two years of operations and Ulbricht charged anywhere between 8 to 15 percent as his commission.
Ulbricht is set to appear before the Manhattan federal court in a matter of few weeks and faces criminal charges of computer hacking conspiracy, money laundering conspiracy and narcotics trafficking conspiracy.
