HomeinetCandidates “grab” the final Silk Road bitcoins

Candidates “grab” the final Silk Road bitcoins

bitcoinThe final 22,000 bitcoins seized during a raid on the Silk Road online marketplace were sold in a sealed-bid auction.

On Thursday, the United States Marshals Service said four candidates had taken a stake.

At the current market rate, 22,000 bitcoins are worth about $14.3 (£9.4m), but it is possible that bidders paid less.

Since 2014, the U.S. Marshals Service has auctioned off approximately 175,000 bitcoins seized from Silk Road.

What was the Silk Road?

Silk Road was an online marketplace that, according to US law enforcement agencies, traded illegal drugs.

It took its name from the historic trade routes that spanned Europe, Asia, and some parts of Africa.

The website was shut down in 2013 after raids by the FBI and other agencies. The website's founder, Ross Ulbricht, was sentenced to life in prison in 2015.

The seized bitcoins were obtained from Ulbricht under the forfeiture policy, which allows some US law enforcement agencies to seize assets from individuals suspected of criminal activity without necessarily having to file a complaint first.

The U.S. Marshals Service said the latest and final auction from the Silk Road raid had attracted 11 bidders, similar to the low turnout seen in the previous auction in December 2014.

A possible reason for the low number of bids is that the bitcoins were divided into groups of 2,000 for the auction, and each group has a purchase price of $790,000 (£520,000)

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