Bitcoin Forum

http://www.forbes.com/sites/andygreenberg/2013/10/25/fbi-says-its-seized-20-million-in-bitcoins-from-ross-ulbricht-alleged-owner-of-silk-road/

Seems legit. I think most people had assumed that DRP's stash would remain under his control, looks like that isn't the case. What do we think, newbies?

I think DPR wasn't as careful as he needed to be. Lesson learned.

Everyone has a trail from when they first got online.  Remember that

What are peoples thoughts on how the coins were seized? Was it as simple as a big fat wallet.dat file just waiting to be opened?  Found a paper wallet?  Did the FBI have to crack passwords? 

They were found at 34 59 20 106 36 52

I figured he would be smart enough to quadruple secure it.

Liar.  I tried to go there and find them, and all I found was a couple dead guys.

This is also posted here...
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=318038.0 (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=318038.0)

I am not one of those wannabe mods I just figured some of the comments on the topic are worth reading. This event could actually be positive for Bitcoin.

Sucks for him, jailed and nothing waiting for him when he gets out.

I believe FBI compromised his computer and once he unlocked his wallet, they got the password to wallet.dat

My guess would be he used the same password on another site.
That or he probably got complacent and choose a weak password so it would be easier to remember.

First the Megaupload, now this... :-[

Probably left a small digital footprint, and footprint nonetheless.  Money makes you careless.

Possible that he voluntarily gave up the password as part of some deal with the prosecution. I can't see any scenario where he'd ever see those bitcoins again (criminal proceeds and all).

I always hated Megaupload.
I don't think that is going to happen :L

FBI went through his computer and found his keys - my guess is an unencrypted wallet.dat

Using passwords is troublesome because you can forget it, or your family wont get the BTC when you die. So paper wallet is best, but FBI can easily get private keys this way

From what I hear, they flipped one of the top drug dealers on the silk road. A month later, they caught DPR and confiscated his bitcoins. Days later, they caught several other large dealers across Europe and the US. Seems to me that the protocol and everything is still secure, but like with most systems, the human element may be the weakest link.

Given the recent spike in value after shutting down SR, the US government will enjoy liquidating those seized BTCs for a nice chunk of change to buy more weapons, equipment, and maybe pay someone's bonus.

I don't like the idea of the authorities hogging something cool and finite as BTCs.

I personally don't think they cracked his account. I think he gave up his password or they found it copied somewhere.

Of course. They offered him a plea-bargain if he gave up his stash. Probably cut his time in jail by half.  The authorities love to seize money. Believe me, they enjoy seizing money.  Any assets not so much as they have to go through the process of auctioning/reselling it.

The next step is for me to create a legitimate SR with the same level, if not more, activity. ;)

 :o NOOOOO! I always imagined him scattering a few thousand uniquely encrypted private keys all over the world and recovering these when he eventually got out of prison.

Hind sight is always 20/20 but I know if i held that much BTC I would be paranoid as all hell and get really creative in creating redundancies and fallback plans. But unfortunately this is probably a pipe dream this day and age in the United States thanks to federal prosecutors and their games, plea bargains and the surveillance state. I just hope this story serves as a lesson for the next person to inevitably come along and take his place.

How would you of handled your BTC if you had as much as him?

I cant wait for the information how FBI acquired access to his private keys or password.

But it seems DPR was a bit careless, at least according to informations in his indictment. He was for example using same nick altoid for one of the first posts about Silk Road and later for post seeking programmer with contact email address on Gmail in his own name...

So maybe they found some unencrypted wallet's backup or something.

Or maybe he gave them 144 thousand for some deal, so he can enjoy his other 300K much sooner :)

This. Ulbricht is useless to them. The coin, however, provides them a pretty sweet welcome package into the world of BTC  ;)

Agreed.  I'm pretty sure a vast, vast majority of cases end with a plea bargain.

I'm wondering what price all those coins will go for at a federal auction!

I had thought there was a very good chance they had access to these coins. Too bad for DPR.

Seems like DPR made mistakes from the start.   I never visited silk road.  I had heard about it,  but didn't think it would be around for too long.  Selling drugs will get you put in jail,  no matter how you do it. 

I don't necessarily agree with that. But I do think using (and certainly running) a centralized marketplace using distributed servers was a recipe for disaster -- and I would be worried if I had been a seller on SR.