US Marshall's Bitcoin Auction Results

[Beliathon]

Thanks Dutchman for the update - keep us posted.

[1714489902]

1714489902

[1714489902]

1714489902

[Xch4ng3]

This may or may not be relevant to the thread, but why did Ross Ulbricht give up his passphrase to the silkroad wallet? If the FBI won't allow him to ever access those bitcoins again, then delete the wallet. Why give them to the FBI? It's not even their right to profit off this.

From what I know (and correct me if I'm wrong because I'm quoting this from memory):

- The coins that were sold above were seized from the Silk Road server. They were seen as proceeds of crime so naturally they took them. If Ross admitted that they were his coins he pretty much loses the case. When they apprehended Ross in the library he was logged on to SR and some other panels he used, I'm guessing the wallet was decrypted at that point. I don't know if they transferred the coins right then or by obtaining the password at a later date.

- Ross had a separate batch of coins that weren't on the SR server and he's adamant those are his own coins.

Either way, as no one has come forward claiming the coins found on the SR server and it's property used in crime they're allowed to sell it - I don't know the exact legislation behind it but it happens all the time when seized goods get auctioned off.

It'll be really interesting to see what affect this has on the market.

[DooMAD]

This may or may not be relevant to the thread, but why did Ross Ulbricht give up his passphrase to the silkroad wallet? If the FBI won't allow him to ever access those bitcoins again, then delete the wallet. Why give them to the FBI? It's not even their right to profit off this.

Perhaps they managed to retrieve the passphrase without asking him.  Hard to say, really, could have been any number of ways it went down.  I figure the reason they aren't auctioning all the coins that were supposedly seized is because they don't have the passphrase(s) for the other coins.

[moreia]

I think you made a mistake in the title by putting the word 'Results' in there.

He is right
I heard about this story and I thought this thread was the auction results
More of a report than results

[mavromixalakis]

watching 

[franky1]

This may or may not be relevant to the thread, but why did Ross Ulbricht give up his passphrase to the silkroad wallet? If the FBI won't allow him to ever access those bitcoins again, then delete the wallet. Why give them to the FBI? It's not even their right to profit off this.

Perhaps they managed to retrieve the passphrase without asking him.  Hard to say, really, could have been any number of ways it went down.  I figure the reason they aren't auctioning all the coins that were supposedly seized is because they don't have the passphrase(s) for the other coins.

last year it was said (yes i said 'said' as it cant be confirmed or denied)
US government employed UK's GCHQ to brute force his password.

.. i guess he used crap entropy

[lihuajkl]

nice info...I wish they were actually auctioned at a price higher than market price

It is imposible. The bidder wouldn't bid the price higher than the market price otherwise they just go to exchange.

[ruletheworld]

This may or may not be relevant to the thread, but why did Ross Ulbricht give up his passphrase to the silkroad wallet? If the FBI won't allow him to ever access those bitcoins again, then delete the wallet. Why give them to the FBI? It's not even their right to profit off this.

From what I know (and correct me if I'm wrong because I'm quoting this from memory):

- The coins that were sold above were seized from the Silk Road server. They were seen as proceeds of crime so naturally they took them. If Ross admitted that they were his coins he pretty much loses the case. When they apprehended Ross in the library he was logged on to SR and some other panels he used, I'm guessing the wallet was decrypted at that point. I don't know if they transferred the coins right then or by obtaining the password at a later date.

- Ross had a separate batch of coins that weren't on the SR server and he's adamant those are his own coins.

Either way, as no one has come forward claiming the coins found on the SR server and it's property used in crime they're allowed to sell it - I don't know the exact legislation behind it but it happens all the time when seized goods get auctioned off.

It'll be really interesting to see what affect this has on the market.

True, although it's wrong to assume that all the money was for 'crime'. Firstly, it was a global marketplace, and a Portugese citizen buying most drugs isn't illegal in Portugal. For another, a good amount of money was for electronics, not drugs, which aren't illegal (yet).

[trace666]

nice info...I wish they were actually auctioned at a price higher than market price

It is imposible. The bidder wouldn't bid the price higher than the market price otherwise they just go to exchange.

As mentioned above, it is not easily possible to buy 30,000 BTC at "market value" i.e. current major exchange price. The exchanges do not have that kind of coin on their order books.

[IIOII]

Chris DeMuth, a partner at Rangeley Capital who had been considering bidding, said last week the chance the Marshals Service gets the market price for the bitcoins is low.

"Anyone could pay market prices on existing exchanges," he said. "So the key question is how much of a discount do bidders want."

Funny way to get in at a lower price... I'm sure that these coins will sell above, not below market price, because it's a bigger chunk that can't be acquired on existing exchanges without pushing the price up. Blind auction format psychology also helps pushing price up.

In addition these can be considered "cleaned" coins for the epidemically growing community of idiotic AML-freaks.

I'm really interested in seeing the actual results on monday.

[hardhouseinc]

My question is HOW THE HELL did they seize the other 140K ish coins?
I mean, he doesnt have some backup of the wallets or they are like hot wallets
for the servers?
Either way, the fact they got them and the wallets werent encrypted and he doesnt
have some uber safe dark cloud storage of the wallets for cases like this is shocking.

Im amazed they got that many coins that easy and they were just sitting open on the
PCs or servers they seized them from?  Kinda shocking to me honestly but I dont know
the whole story yet.


E.

[jubalix]

[1] bad passwords are easy to crack...don't use less than 100 characters or equivalent on the first level on encryption and a few other tricks.

[2] They only tell us they have the other coins

[Bit_Happy]

[1] bad passwords are easy to crack...don't use less than 100 characters or equivalent on the first level on encryption and a few other tricks.

[2] They only tell us they have the other coins

In addition, they could have threatened him with even worse charges/no bail, etc.

[DannyElfman]

I think you made a mistake in the title by putting the word 'Results' in there.

Nope!

These are the results as relased so far by the government.

I guess Monday we'll find out the prices.

I read somewhere that the prices nor the names of the winners are not going to be made public by the government.

If second market wins any of the blocks then we may get the price they paid to give some kind of idea of the winning bid prices

[DooMAD]

My question is HOW THE HELL did they seize the other 140K ish coins?
I mean, he doesnt have some backup of the wallets or they are like hot wallets
for the servers?
Either way, the fact they got them and the wallets werent encrypted and he doesnt
have some uber safe dark cloud storage of the wallets for cases like this is shocking.

Im amazed they got that many coins that easy and they were just sitting open on the
PCs or servers they seized them from?  Kinda shocking to me honestly but I dont know
the whole story yet.


E.

Until those other coins go on auction, we won't know for certain that they do have control over them.  They might be "seized" in the sense that Ulbricht won't have access to them, but it doesn't necessarily mean they've got the keys and can move the coins.

[EcuaMobi]

What's known so far:

Results of our US Marshals bitcoin syndicate:

Bidders - 42
Bids received - 186
BTC quantity bid - 48,013

Winners notifed by USMS on Mon

https://twitter.com/Bitcoin_Casino/status/482986823669788672

[LostDutchman]

What's known so far:

Results of our US Marshals bitcoin syndicate:

Bidders - 42
Bids received - 186
BTC quantity bid - 48,013

Winners notifed by USMS on Mon

https://twitter.com/Bitcoin_Casino/status/482986823669788672

Thanks for the update!

[haploid23]

Results of our US Marshals bitcoin syndicate:

Bidders - 42
Bids received - 186
BTC quantity bid - 48,013

https://twitter.com/Bitcoin_Casino/status/482986823669788672

How accurate is the source and this info? I thought it was 30k btc up for auction, how did there end up being almost 50k?

[EternalWingsofGod]

I think you made a mistake in the title by putting the word 'Results' in there.

Nope!

These are the results as relased so far by the government.

I guess Monday we'll find out the prices.

Ok cool this is the status for now
Results later hopefully we have a nice monday
Enjoy the World Cup Weekend

[EcuaMobi]

Results of our US Marshals bitcoin syndicate:

Bidders - 42
Bids received - 186
BTC quantity bid - 48,013

https://twitter.com/Bitcoin_Casino/status/482986823669788672

How accurate is the source and this info? I thought it was 30k btc up for auction, how did there end up being almost 50k?

Considering who @barrysilbert is, I think we can trust this info.

Regarding your other question:

a bid does not mean a block. just means different price

https://twitter.com/barrysilbert/status/482962727418462208