SilkRoad domain Seized?

[darkmule]

While bitcointalk was down, someone mentioned in an IRC channel that the only BTC the feds seized were from buyer and seller accounts.  Apparently ulbrichts BTC was never seized and still lies in a wallet somewhere (which makes sense, because I always wondered how the FBI could ever get their hands on that).  I couldn't find this is any recent news articles, however, and contradicts what I've read before.  Can anybody confirm this?

I believe that to be the case, and it is referenced in the criminal complaint.

This is from page 6.

[b!z]

We Are Up!

Happy to be back

While bitcointalk was down, someone mentioned in an IRC channel that the only BTC the feds seized were from buyer and seller accounts.  Apparently ulbrichts BTC was never seized and still lies in a wallet somewhere (which makes sense, because I always wondered how the FBI could ever get their hands on that).  I couldn't find this is any recent news articles, however, and contradicts what I've read before.  Can anybody confirm this?

I read this as well. 27K was the buyer and seller funds. 600K was the amount supposed to have been collected by Ross in commisions. They have not yet got their hands on this.

I think they will get his BTC soon, it won't be long :-)

[bigasic]

We Are Up!

Happy to be back

While bitcointalk was down, someone mentioned in an IRC channel that the only BTC the feds seized were from buyer and seller accounts.  Apparently ulbrichts BTC was never seized and still lies in a wallet somewhere (which makes sense, because I always wondered how the FBI could ever get their hands on that).  I couldn't find this is any recent news articles, however, and contradicts what I've read before.  Can anybody confirm this?

Yes, I have read various reports that they do not have the bulk of the coins that DPR had hidden.. For all we know it could be on a thumb drive hidden in a backyard. or a paper wallet in a place no one would find...

I think the only way the Govt is going to get its hands on his coins is to let him use some of those coins for his defense.. if not, those 5 percent of all coins will be forever lost. it will be interesting to see how they get those coins, its not like they are going to drop charges in exchange, they are going to go for life in prison... It will be interesting to see if he left clues to where the coins actually are, but i think it will be very very difficult to find them..

But to see the way he was living, I would bet that 99 percent of his bitcoins are hidden. its obvious that he didn't spend them (except for hitmen)

If he was smart, he should have retired to a country that doesnt have an agreement with the usa.. or handed off the controls of the site to someone else and lived the life of luxury.. Now, he will be in a one of the federal maximum security prisons where he will only see 1 hour of daylight a week...

[TheEmperor]

We Are Up!

Happy to be back

While bitcointalk was down, someone mentioned in an IRC channel that the only BTC the feds seized were from buyer and seller accounts.  Apparently ulbrichts BTC was never seized and still lies in a wallet somewhere (which makes sense, because I always wondered how the FBI could ever get their hands on that).  I couldn't find this is any recent news articles, however, and contradicts what I've read before.  Can anybody confirm this?

Yes, I have read various reports that they do not have the bulk of the coins that DPR had hidden.. For all we know it could be on a thumb drive hidden in a backyard. or a paper wallet in a place no one would find...

I think the only way the Govt is going to get its hands on his coins is to let him use some of those coins for his defense.. if not, those 5 percent of all coins will be forever lost. it will be interesting to see how they get those coins, its not like they are going to drop charges in exchange, they are going to go for life in prison... It will be interesting to see if he left clues to where the coins actually are, but i think it will be very very difficult to find them..

But to see the way he was living, I would bet that 99 percent of his bitcoins are hidden. its obvious that he didn't spend them (except for hitmen)

If he was smart, he should have retired to a country that doesnt have an agreement with the usa.. or handed off the controls of the site to someone else and lived the life of luxury.. Now, he will be in a one of the federal maximum security prisons where he will only see 1 hour of daylight a week and a lot of cock

FTFY

[TheKoziTwo]

if not, those 5 percent of all coins will be forever lost.

What is to prevent him from say, telling a vistor the private key?

[jeffhuys]

And the price barely took a hit.

[greyhawk]

And the price barely took a hit.

Except when it dropped 50%

[FullLife]

lmao! TOR is now FBI property.... ERR'BODY GETTIN' SEIZED IN THIS BIACH!!!  Deep net isn't looking so deep now....

There's a theory going around that a large amount of TorNodes are actually run by the NSA.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/interactive/2013/oct/04/tor-stinks-nsa-presentation-document

[mb300sd]

It is very likely that they only seized the hot wallet. If anyone else remembers the largest btc wallet that ever existed, 1DkyBEKt5S2GDtv7aQw6rQepAvnsRyHoYM ( https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=94675.0 ) multiple users, including myself, traced silk road deposits and withdrawals to it. The mixer, at least back then, wasn't very effective. There would be 20-100k btc sent from 1DkyBEKt5S2GDtv7aQw6rQepAvnsRyHoYM to another address, split up into another 2, then every withdraw from SR would sent from a long chain of transactions (outputs withdraw and change) that you could easily follow back.

[darkmule]

I think the only way the Govt is going to get its hands on his coins is to let him use some of those coins for his defense.. if not, those 5 percent of all coins will be forever lost.

The criminal complaint claims he made 600K in commissions.  That doesn't mean he still has all that money, though I'd be pretty amazed if he didn't have a lot of it.  He didn't exactly seem to be blowing enormous amounts of money if descriptions of his living arrangements are accurate (i.e. renting a share of an apartment for $1K/month).

it will be interesting to see how they get those coins, its not like they are going to drop charges in exchange, they are going to go for life in prison... It will be interesting to see if he left clues to where the coins actually are, but i think it will be very very difficult to find them..

They won't drop charges, but when it comes to sentencing, they're a lot more likely to throw the book at you if they know you're hiding a huge amount of money for when you get out.  He would be well advised to consult real legal counsel (other than a public defender) as to how to construct a binding deal on anything reducing sentences/getting charges thrown out in return before he says a word.  It would certainly be idiotic to turn over the keys in return for nothing.

[LiteCoinGuy]

We Are Up!

Happy to be back

While bitcointalk was down, someone mentioned in an IRC channel that the only BTC the feds seized were from buyer and seller accounts.  Apparently ulbrichts BTC was never seized and still lies in a wallet somewhere (which makes sense, because I always wondered how the FBI could ever get their hands on that).  I couldn't find this is any recent news articles, however, and contradicts what I've read before.  Can anybody confirm this?

I read this as well. 27K was the buyer and seller funds. 600K was the amount supposed to have been collected by Ross in commisions. They have not yet got their hands on this.

I think they will get his BTC soon, it won't be long :-)

yeah....they will "talk" with him 

[niko]

While bitcointalk was down, someone mentioned in an IRC channel that the only BTC the feds seized were from buyer and seller accounts.  Apparently ulbrichts BTC was never seized and still lies in a wallet somewhere (which makes sense, because I always wondered how the FBI could ever get their hands on that).  I couldn't find this is any recent news articles, however, and contradicts what I've read before.  Can anybody confirm this?

According to Forbes, the FBI confirmed they hold encrypted wallets in addition to what was already seized.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/kashmirhill/2013/10/04/fbi-silk-road-bitcoin-seizure/

The spokesperson says the approximately 26,000 Bitcoins seized are just the ones that were held in Silk Road accounts. In other words, it’s Silk Road users’ Bitcoin. The FBI has not been able to get to Ulbricht’s personal Bitcoin yet. “That’s like another $80 million worth,” she said, explaining that it was held separately and is encrypted.

[darkmule]

According to Forbes, the FBI confirmed they hold encrypted wallets in addition to what was already seized.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/kashmirhill/2013/10/04/fbi-silk-road-bitcoin-seizure/

By what it doesn't say, that would seem to imply they do not have the decryption keys.

[Chronikka]

According to Forbes, the FBI confirmed they hold encrypted wallets in addition to what was already seized.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/kashmirhill/2013/10/04/fbi-silk-road-bitcoin-seizure/

By what it doesn't say, that would seem to imply they do not have the decryption keys.

They don't so far. And this is most likely DPR's wallet: https://blockchain.info/address/1DkyBEKt5S2GDtv7aQw6rQepAvnsRyHoYM

At current Gox price its about $80-85 Million and about 5-6% of all bitcoins in existence.

[mb300sd]

According to Forbes, the FBI confirmed they hold encrypted wallets in addition to what was already seized.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/kashmirhill/2013/10/04/fbi-silk-road-bitcoin-seizure/

By what it doesn't say, that would seem to imply they do not have the decryption keys.

They don't so far. And this is most likely DPR's wallet: https://blockchain.info/address/1DkyBEKt5S2GDtv7aQw6rQepAvnsRyHoYM

At current Gox price its about $80-85 Million and about 5-6% of all bitcoins in existence.

That address has long been empty. It was part of the SR mixer/cold wallet.

[Chronikka]

According to Forbes, the FBI confirmed they hold encrypted wallets in addition to what was already seized.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/kashmirhill/2013/10/04/fbi-silk-road-bitcoin-seizure/

By what it doesn't say, that would seem to imply they do not have the decryption keys.

They don't so far. And this is most likely DPR's wallet: https://blockchain.info/address/1DkyBEKt5S2GDtv7aQw6rQepAvnsRyHoYM

At current Gox price its about $80-85 Million and about 5-6% of all bitcoins in existence.

That address has long been empty. It was part of the SR mixer/cold wallet.

Yes but the point is that it was used to move funds to his personal address in the past. If you look through the transaction logs of this address you will most likely be able to find any private wallets he kept for withdraws. I'm just too lazy to do it myself. But there are records of major transactions from this address in the past (20000+ BTC) which indicates this was possibly his personal wallet at some point. Or at least used to move funds to a personal wallet

[darkmule]

They don't so far. And this is most likely DPR's wallet: https://blockchain.info/address/1DkyBEKt5S2GDtv7aQw6rQepAvnsRyHoYM

At current Gox price its about $80-85 Million and about 5-6% of all bitcoins in existence.

Or WAS DPR's wallet.  There's nothing there now, a ton of dust transactions around 8/25, and before that, I'm not really up on blockchain forensics, but a bunch of transactions that look like they might be some kind of a mix.  Apparently, those coins are at another address now.

[rpietila]

I think the only way the Govt is going to get its hands on his coins is to let him use some of those coins for his defense.. if not, those 5 percent of all coins will be forever lost.

This is an interesting riddle. He might have saved the coins in brainwallets, in (comparably) tiny amounts. Even if they come from traceable SR sources, it is rather impossible to show that DPR has the key to them. It is possible to construct a recursive brainwallet with any number of addresses, which unfolds after knowing a single passphrase. Or use several different passphrases.

Since the total amount of commissions is not known, it is always possible to save some coins for retirement.

[Chronikka]

I think the only way the Govt is going to get its hands on his coins is to let him use some of those coins for his defense.. if not, those 5 percent of all coins will be forever lost.

This is an interesting riddle. He might have saved the coins in brainwallets, in (comparably) tiny amounts. Even if they come from traceable SR sources, it is rather impossible to show that DPR has the key to them. It is possible to construct a recursive brainwallet with any number of addresses, which unfolds after knowing a single passphrase. Or use several different passphrases.

Since the total amount of commissions is not known, it is always possible to save some coins for retirement.

No lawyer will accept that money. LE can go after a law firm for accepting known drug money. He needs to have somebody outside of LE and his legal team with access to his wallets. Otherwise he probably can't get to it until bail is posted. But his hearing is this week. If he is able to post bail then watch the transactions and look for major dumps.

[rpietila]

I think the only way the Govt is going to get its hands on his coins is to let him use some of those coins for his defense.. if not, those 5 percent of all coins will be forever lost.

This is an interesting riddle. He might have saved the coins in brainwallets, in (comparably) tiny amounts. Even if they come from traceable SR sources, it is rather impossible to show that DPR has the key to them. It is possible to construct a recursive brainwallet with any number of addresses, which unfolds after knowing a single passphrase. Or use several different passphrases.

Since the total amount of commissions is not known, it is always possible to save some coins for retirement.

No lawyer will accept that money. LE can go after a law firm for accepting known drug money. He needs to have somebody outside of LE and his legal team with access to his wallets. Otherwise he probably can't get to it until bail is posted. But his hearing is this week. If he is able to post bail then watch the transactions and look for major dumps.

As you know, brainwallets work such that an easily memorizable passphrase is processed with algorithms, and/or combined with other phrases, to yield the actual password or privkey. If DPR has anyone outside who is allowed to have any contact with him, and who knows the way how the "A-part" (memorized part) of the passphrase needs to be treated to yield the privkey, DPR can just give him whatever amount he wants. The point is to have multiple addresses with different amounts ranging from sub-BTC1 to hundreds.

Even if there is no accomplice beforehand, if some of the stash is encrypted with the standard (or any describable) algorithm, it is pretty easy to tell to anyone both the passphrase and the algorithm.

We can be certain that DPR coins are not in one wallet