Title: [2020-11-06] US authorities seize $1 billion in bitcoins Post by: Best_Change on November 06, 2020, 02:02:45 PM US authorities seize $1 billion in bitcoins
The US Department of Justice said it had seized 69,370 BTC linked to the Silk Road darknet market on Tuesday. In addition, government officials received equivalent amounts in bitcoin forks: Bitcoin Cash, Bitcoin Gold and Bitcoin SV. The department emphasized that this is the largest seizure of cryptocurrency in the United States of all time. It follows from the case documents that in April 2013, a hacker under the nickname Individual X hacked into Silk Road and stole the indicated amount. On Tuesday, November 3, he agreed to hand over the cryptocurrency to the authorities. Silk Road existed from 2011 until in 2013 law enforcement officers arrested the owner of the platform and sentenced him to life imprisonment. Source: https://www.coindesk.com/u-s-seized-more-than-1b-in-silk-road-linked-bitcoin-seeks-forfeiture-bloomberg Read more news in our Medium channel: https://medium.com/@BestChange Title: Re: [2020-11-06] US authorities seize $1 billion in bitcoins Post by: Fatunad on November 06, 2020, 07:02:35 PM Thing comes up to my mind on now the government do have held those bitcoins neither those would be kept but for sure they would really have that in mind that they will sell off. :D Im just wondering on what are the things that had been done on why that hacker did really agree on making out such transfer rather than keeping those coins or keys for himself. Unless if he had been offered with some sweet deal for him to sing out those keys. Do this news can possibly give out some positive or negative effect to the entire market? Title: Re: [2020-11-06] US authorities seize $1 billion in bitcoins Post by: figmentofmyass on November 07, 2020, 12:07:39 AM Quote
i wonder what the exact course of events was, or more specifically, where the hacker made his mistake. this makes it sound like he moved the coins in a way (or to an exchange?) where they were identified by the USA government. then they gave up access to the coins to police as part of a plea agreement, or in an attempt to gain leniency. if this is anything like the first silk road seizure, those coins will start being auctioned off by the US marshals in.....6-7 months? i wonder if it'll have much effect on supply, in the sense that OTC buyers accumulating via those auctions won't be accumulating from other OTC or exchange sources. Title: Re: [2020-11-06] US authorities seize $1 billion in bitcoins Post by: bbc.reporter on November 07, 2020, 02:55:37 AM @figmentofmyass. It might also be the difficulty in hiding and laundering that much bitcoins hehe. I speculate the hacker might have thought that it would be safer to give up access, make a deal with the government and enjoy some of those coins.
I speculate all individual whales wallets in bitcoin's richlist might be monitored by the government also. The tax agencies are waiting hehehe. Title: Re: [2020-11-06] US authorities seize $1 billion in bitcoins Post by: figmentofmyass on November 08, 2020, 07:04:22 PM @figmentofmyass. It might also be the difficulty in hiding and laundering that much bitcoins hehe. I speculate the hacker might have thought that it would be safer to give up access, make a deal with the government and enjoy some of those coins. no way. at the very end of the filing, you can see the government justifies seizing all the coins on 2 grounds: 1. they are proceeds of an illegal hack, and 2. they were commingled with funds tied to narcotics trafficking. in their eyes, they don't need to let the hacker enjoy any of the coins. if he doesn't cooperate, they can throw the book at him and get him thrown in prison for most of his life. I speculate all individual whales wallets in bitcoin's richlist might be monitored by the government also. The tax agencies are waiting hehehe. the IRS was definitely central to this investigation. in this case, we know where the government began their analysis. this is from the filing: Quote In 2020, law enforcement officers used a third party bitcoin attribution company to analyze Bitcoin transactions executed by Silk Road. From this review they observed 54 transactions that were sent from Bitcoin addresses controlled by Silk Road, to two Bitcoin addresses... These 54 transactions were not noted in the Silk Road database as a vendor withdrawal or a Silk Road employee withdrawal and therefore appear to represent Bitcoin that was stolen from Silk Road. they mention a transaction that deposited some of the stolen funds to BTC-E in 2015, which is probably how they identified the hacker. they also mention being aware of the hacker's online identity, so it's possible he was identified that way. Title: Re: [2020-11-06] US authorities seize $1 billion in bitcoins Post by: Harlot on November 08, 2020, 07:28:38 PM Maybe these is just a made-up story by the government to cover up this "unnamed hacker" that is actually working for them. One of the reasons why I think its this way is if he isn't really identified by the authorities then there is no reason for the hacker to give up the money he had obtained from the hack, basically he can run off from them without getting caught. Something in the story is not right or at least not complete there might be a hacker or just someone working undercover for the government.
Title: Re: [2020-11-06] US authorities seize $1 billion in bitcoins Post by: bbc.reporter on November 09, 2020, 12:57:48 AM @figmentofmyass. Hehehe poor fellow. He should appreciate his freedom, however.
This should be be very concerning for the whales in the richlist if IRS is central to this investigation. What would happen to a 2011 whale's billions if he was identified? Taxed 30%? @Harlot. I like the skeptical you hehehehe. Title: Re: [2020-11-06] US authorities seize $1 billion in bitcoins Post by: jseverson on November 09, 2020, 02:02:50 AM Quote
i wonder what the exact course of events was, or more specifically, where the hacker made his mistake. this makes it sound like he moved the coins in a way (or to an exchange?) where they were identified by the USA government. then they gave up access to the coins to police as part of a plea agreement, or in an attempt to gain leniency. if this is anything like the first silk road seizure, those coins will start being auctioned off by the US marshals in.....6-7 months? i wonder if it'll have much effect on supply, in the sense that OTC buyers accumulating via those auctions won't be accumulating from other OTC or exchange sources. The actual court document seems to provide a rough outline of events. Some snippets: Quote from: https://www.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.cand.368440/gov.uscourts.cand.368440.1.0.pdf 15.In 2020, law enforcement officers used a third party bitcoin attribution company to analyze Bitcoin transactions executed by Silk Road. From this review they observed 54 transactions that were sent from Bitcoin addresses controlled by Silk Road, to two Bitcoin addresses:1BADznNF3W1gi47R 65MQs754KB7zTaGuYZ and 1BBqjKsYuLEUE9Y5WzdbzCtY zC iQgHqtP N totaling 70,411.46 BTC (valued at approximately $354,000 at the time of transfer). 16.The individual amounts that were transferred were mainly round Bitcoin amounts and close together in time. For example, 10 of the transfers occurred at approximately 3:59 a.m. and each transfer was for exactly 2,500 Bitc oin. This pattern of withdrawals and the amount that was withdrawn was not typical for a Silk Road user. Specifically, a review of other withdrawals from Silk Road revealed Bitcoin amounts that were mostly less than 100 Bitc oin. These 54 transactions were not noted in the Silk Road database as a vendor withdrawal or a Silk Road employee withdrawal and therefore appear to represent Bitcoin that was stolen from Silk Road. 17.On approximately April 9, 2013, the Bitcoin addresses that received the 70,411.46 B itc oin from Silk Road sent 69,471.082201 (approximately $14 million at the time of transfer) to 1HQ3Go3ggs8pFnXuHVHRytP Cq5f GG8H bhx (hereafter “1HQ3”). [...] 21.Individual X, whose identity is known to the government, was determined to have been involved in a transaction that related to 1HQ3. 22.According to an investigation conducted by the Criminal Investigation Division of the Internal Revenue Service and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of California, Individua l X was the individua l who moved the cryptocurrency from Silk Road. According to the investigation, Individua l X was able to hack into Silk Road and gain unauthorized and illegal access to Silk Road and thereby steal the illicit cryptocurrency from Silk Road and move it into wallets that Individua l X controlled. According to the investigation, Ulbricht became aware of Individual X’s online identity and threatened Individua l X for return of the cryptocurrency to Ulbricht. Individua l X did not return the cryptocurrency but kept it and did not spend it. 23.On November 3, 2020, Individual X signed a Consent and Agreement to Forfeiture with the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Northern Dis tr ict of California. In that agreement, Individual X, consented to the forfeiture of the Defendant P roperty to the United States government. One thing of note is that "Individual X" sent money from the hack to BTC-e in 2015, which could have led to his identity being known to the authorities. That may ultimately have been inconsequential though, since Ross Ulbricht himself somehow knew of their identity as well. Title: Re: [2020-11-06] US authorities seize $1 billion in bitcoins Post by: suzanne5223 on November 09, 2020, 02:09:50 AM Thing comes up to my mind on now the government do have held those bitcoins neither those would be kept but for sure they would really have that in mind that they will sell off. :D Im just wondering on what are the things that had been done on why that hacker did really agree on making out such transfer rather than keeping those coins or keys for himself. They will never unleash what they offer to the hacker but the US government are good in making bargain and the news will affect the market negatively but i expect fast come back.Unless if he had been offered with some sweet deal for him to sing out those keys. Do this news can possibly give out some positive or negative effect to the entire market? Title: Re: [2020-11-06] US authorities seize $1 billion in bitcoins Post by: bryant.coleman on November 09, 2020, 05:01:53 AM Entire story sounds fishy to me. First of all, I don't think that Ross Ulbricht was the sole administrator of Silk Road. In all probability, more people were involved. I would assume that the other administrators have traded their Bitcoins for freedom. I am sure that there is no hacker named Individual X, and this identity was created by the FBI agents.
Title: Re: [2020-11-06] US authorities seize $1 billion in bitcoins Post by: InvoKing on November 10, 2020, 02:02:49 AM Entire story sounds fishy to me. First of all, I don't think that Ross Ulbricht was the sole administrator of Silk Road. In all probability, more people were involved. I would assume that the other administrators have traded their Bitcoins for freedom. I am sure that there is no hacker named Individual X, and this identity was created by the FBI agents. NSA joined the chat. I agree, individual X is probably linked in a way or another to one of these agencies. The only thing that i am worried of is when dumping all that money :-\ Title: Re: [2020-11-06] US authorities seize $1 billion in bitcoins Post by: BayAreaCoins on November 10, 2020, 02:24:28 AM I would imagine/bet these are Mongooses (https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdny/pr/senior-adviser-operator-silk-road-website-pleads-guilty-manhattan-federal-court) Bitcoins that he got from proving himself as worth a shit. :P
You don't just make suggestions and get listened to in those "industries"... I think you do something that kinda makes a name for yourself. I bet the nasty secret was Mongoose lifted some coins from Ross and helped Ross patch the problem. That's how they got acquainted probably. (I do not know, just guessing) Now Mongoose is negotiating and it looks like negotiations are going well because it's "hacker x" and not Roger Clark. :P Title: Re: [2020-11-06] US authorities seize $1 billion in bitcoins Post by: bbc.reporter on November 10, 2020, 03:26:02 AM Entire story sounds fishy to me. First of all, I don't think that Ross Ulbricht was the sole administrator of Silk Road. In all probability, more people were involved. I would assume that the other administrators have traded their Bitcoins for freedom. I am sure that there is no hacker named Individual X, and this identity was created by the FBI agents. NSA joined the chat. I agree, individual X is probably linked in a way or another to one of these agencies. The only thing that i am worried of is when dumping all that money :-\ There will be an auction for those coins. I am not certain, however, it might be illegal for the government as a whole or any government agencies within it to buy and sell equities, commodities, cryptocoins and other speculative investments. Title: Re: [2020-11-06] US authorities seize $1 billion in bitcoins Post by: Karartma1 on November 10, 2020, 10:53:14 AM Sci-fi mode ON
Imagine the possibility to take part in the auction as a community: we could reclaim ownership of those coins and avoid they will enter any institutional hands. Then those funds will go through many anonymity cycles via any privacy tool we prefer and all who contributed will get their share. At the end of the process, we could use some of those funds to support Ross Ulbricht's freedom and that would be a great achievement. Sci-fi Mode OFF just dreaming ::) |