5 months ago
Conor Grogan, a Director astatine Coinbase, has identified 430 BTC distributed crossed assorted wallets perchance tied to Ross Ulbricht, the laminitis of the Silk Road marketplace.
These Bitcoin holdings, untouched for implicit a decade, are estimated to beryllium worthy $47 cardinal based connected existent marketplace prices.
In a Jan. 22 post connected X (formerly Twitter), Grogan pointed retired that these funds are not among the much than 100,000 BTC seized by US authorities during Silk Road’s 2013 shutdown.
The wallets, which were erstwhile considered insignificant successful value, person grown substantially owed to Bitcoin’s emergence successful price. Grogan shared the screenshot of 1 notable wallet with 89.77 BTC, valued astatine astir $9.5 million, alongside smaller holdings similar 87.7 Bitcoin Cash (BCH), worthy astir $39,700.
He suggested that Ulbricht whitethorn inactive person airdrop rewards linked to these wallets but questioned whether the backstage keys required to entree the funds stay disposable to him aft years of inactivity.
Grogan wrote:
“Unlikely if helium has the keys inactive stored down anywhere, I conjecture we volition cognize soon enough!”
Meanwhile, the revelation has drawn mixed reactions from the crypto community. Some manufacture participants expressed interest astir the imaginable implications of publicizing these findings, arguing it mightiness nonstop unnecessary attraction toward Ulbricht.
In effect to the criticism, Grogan clarified that the wallet details are publically accessible and person been referenced successful tribunal documents.
Ulbricht, who was convicted successful 2015 for his relation successful operating the Silk Road marketplace, received a presidential pardon from President Donald Trump connected Jan. 22 aft serving implicit a decennary successful prison.
His merchandise has reignited discussions astir his power connected Bitcoin’s aboriginal ecosystem. Many successful the assemblage respect Ulbricht arsenic a pioneer who embodied the principles of decentralization, freedom, and voluntary speech that defined Bitcoin’s inception.
The station $47M Bitcoin wallet linked to Silk Road laminitis re-surfaces aft a decade appeared archetypal connected CryptoSlate.
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