The not too long ago pardoned Ross Ulbricht, the founding father of the darkish net market Silk Street, appears to be like to nonetheless maintain tens of millions of {dollars} in Bitcoin. This comes following the revelation of wallets linked to the Silk Street founder, containing cash that remained untouched whereas he was in jail.
Ross Ulbricht Reportedly Nonetheless Holds $44 Million In Bitcoin
In an X submit, On-chain sleuth Conor Grogan revealed that the Silk Street founder Ross Ulbricht nonetheless holds $44 million in Bitcoin. Grogan said that he discovered 430 BTC throughout dozens of wallets related to Ulbricht that weren’t confiscated by the US authorities and have been untouched for over 13 years, the interval wherein Ulbricht was in jail.
Grogan remarked that these wallets had been in all probability mud wallets again then, which might clarify why the US authorities paid little consideration to them and did not hint them. Nonetheless, these wallets are actually collectively price over $44 million. This sum might undoubtedly assist Ulbricht, who was not too long ago pardoned by US President Donald Trump, get again on monitor after spending round 13 years in jail for cybercrimes involving the Silk Street market.
Nonetheless, whereas these bitcoins could certainly belong to Ross Ulbricht, there’s a chance that the Silk Street could not have entry to them. Grogan famous that it’s unlikely that he has the keys saved down wherever, which means that Ulbricht could also be unable to entry these funds and even transfer them to promote.
In the meantime, it’s price mentioning that Ross Ulbricht contributed to many of the bitcoins that the US authorities at present holds. The federal government has seized 144,000 BTC from the Silk Street founder following his arrest again in 2013. The federal government additionally seized a number of bitcoins from different suspects who had been arrested in connection to the Silk Street market. Arkham Intelligence knowledge exhibits that the federal government at present holds 198,109 BTC ($20 billion).
One Crypto-Associated Marketing campaign Promise Fulfilled
By pardoning Ross Ulbricht, US President Donald Trump has fulfilled one of many crypto-related marketing campaign guarantees that he made previous to his election victory in November final yr. This transfer by the pro-crypto president has sparked optimism that he can even fulfill different guarantees made to the crypto group.
Amongst these crypto-related guarantees, which the crypto group is very anticipating, is the creation of a Strategic Bitocin Reserve. Alongside pardoning Ross Ulbricht on day one in workplace, Trump has promised to create a US BTC reserve, wherein the federal government will maintain its seized Bitcoin as an alternative of auctioning them.
Though Trump didn’t point out something about this BTC reserve or crypto generally in his inaugural speech, Ross Ulbricht’s pardon offers optimism that the US president will fulfill this crypto marketing campaign promise and implement a number of different crypto-friendly insurance policies.
Featured picture from Unsplash, chart from Tradingview.com