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Chainalysis told WIRED that it tracked a $31 cardinal Bitcoin donation to online achromatic marketplace Silk Road laminitis Ross Ulbricht to a successor marketplace called Alphabay.
A crypto wallet tied to the defunct acheronian web marketplace Alphabay was reportedly down the donation of $31 cardinal worthy of Bitcoin to Silk Road creator Ross Ulbricht, according to blockchain analysis.
Blockchain analytics steadfast Chainalysis told WIRED for a June 5 report that it had tied the 300 Bitcoin (BTC) donated to Ulbrich earlier this month to Alphabay, a predecessor to Silk Road that operated from 2014 to 2017.
Chainalysis suggested that the funds came from a large vendor connected the level who would person had entree to specified important amounts.
“We person tenable grounds to fishy that these funds originated successful AlphaBay,” Chainalysis manager of investigations Phil Larratt said. “Looking astatine the amount, that would suggest they came from idiosyncratic who was perchance a vendor connected AlphaBay backmost successful the aboriginal days.”
Independent blockchain sleuth ZachXBT confirmed the 300 Bitcoin did not travel from Silk Road and noted suspicious patterns successful however the donor moved the funds.
They utilized aggregate mixing services to obscure the transaction way and cashed retired different cryptocurrencies successful tiny amounts to debar detection, which helium suggested indicated transgression origins.
ZachXBT said connected X that the donation appears to travel from a “sketchy centralized mixing service,” called Jambler, whereas mean privateness enthusiasts usage decentralized mixers specified arsenic Wasabi and the now-defunct Samourai.
🔥 TODAY: Ross Ulbricht, laminitis of the SilkRoad marketplace, received 300 $BTC successful his donation wallet. pic.twitter.com/51tnFbWmCa
— Cointelegraph (@Cointelegraph) June 1, 2025Related: Silk Road founder’s belongings fetch $1.8M successful Bitcoin auction
The investigation suggested that the wealth was a “legitimate donation, but not morganatic funds,” ZachXBT told WIRED.
“Usage of aggregate mixers, spreading retired CEX [centralized exchange] deposits, etc, that is done typically if you are trying to debar getting illicit funds frozen,” helium said.
Alphabay takedown connected BTC links
Chainalysis was instrumental successful the recognition of AlphaBay-linked Bitcoin addresses, which played a cardinal relation successful the takedown of the darknet marketplace successful an probe known arsenic “Operation Bayonet” that spanned 2016 and 2017.
Any BTC held since past would person appreciated dramatically, perchance implicit 40-fold, but the individuality of the donor and their information stay unknown.
In January, US President Donald Trump fully pardoned Ross Ulbricht, who had been successful situation for 12 years serving a treble beingness condemnation positive 40 years for moving the Silk Road.
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