SYDNEY: Around A$16mil (US$11.49mil) worth of confiscated bitcoins will be auctioned here next month, the first such auction outside the United States, as demand for the digital currency surged to its highest in nearly two years.
The sale will take place on June 20-21 and involve 24,518 coins, said auction organiser financial services group Ernst and Young yesterday.
US Marshals auctioned off more than 170,000 bitcoins in 2014 and 2015, confiscated after the closure of Silk Road, a black market website.
Bitcoin has proved popular among users of underground market places and criminals because transactions are anonymous and need not involve any formal institution.
Ernst and Young said the bitcoin was “confiscated as proceeds of crime” but declined to identify its client.
http://www.thestar.com.my/business/business-news/2016/05/31/bitcoins-worth-us115mil-go-under-the-hammer/
