On Monday, the US Marshals Service (USMS) announced that it would auction 50,000 Bitcoins belonging to Ross William Ulbricht.
Ulbricht, who allegedly used the alias Dread Pirate Roberts, is suspected of operating the original Silk Road, a hidden website often used for drug smuggling and other illegal sales. Ulbricht had 114,000 Bitcoins stored on various computers when his devices were seized by federal authorities during his arrest in San Francisco last October.
The USMS auction will take place on December 4. Today, one Bitcoin is worth about $377.60, making the auction amount about $18,880,000.
The announcement comes months after the initial auction of Bitcoins taken from Silk Road servers. In June, Tim Draper bought nearly 30,000 Bitcoins for $18 million. (Five months ago, each Bitcoin was worth about $200 more than today.)
To participate in the December auction, interested parties must register before December 1 and describe any contact they have had with Ross William Ulbricht. In the June auction, the government explicitly stated that it would not sell to anyone acting on behalf of Ulbricht or Silk Road.
The 50,000 Bitcoins will be sold in two groups. The first group will contain up to 10 blocks of 2,000 Bitcoins and the offer for this group requires a deposit of $100,000. The second group will contain up to 10 blocks of 3,000 Bitcoins and the entry price for this is a deposit of $150,000.
