Wallets belonging to Ross Ulbricht, the imprisoned creator of the illegal drug marketplace Silk Road, were discovered on Wednesday, containing as many as 430 Bitcoin BTC/USD unmoved for over 13 years.
What Happened: In an X post, Conor Grogan, a director at Coinbase, said that he had found nearly 430 BTC across multiple wallets linked to Ulbricht. These wallets were not seized by the U.S. government and have remained untouched for over 13 years.
“Back then these were probably dust wallets, now, collectively, they are worth about $47 million,” Grogan disclosed in the post. At the current prices, the value of these assets amounted to $44.48 million.
It’s uncertain whether Ulbricht still has access to the keys to these wallets. Grogan said, “We will know soon enough,” suggesting that it’d be clear if the dormant Bitcoins start to move.
A section of the cryptocurrency community didn’t approve Conor making the wallet details public. In his defense, he said they were already public and cited in Ulbricht’s trial documents.
See Also: Michael Saylor’s Proposal To Increase MicroStratagy’s Share Count Approved By Shareholders — More Bitcoin Purchases On The Cards?
Why It Matters: This discovery comes shortly after President Donald Trump pardoned Ulbricht, fulfilling a campaign promise. Trump granted Ulbricht a “full and unconditional” pardon in support of the of the Libertarian Movement
Ulbricht was serving a double life sentence since 2013 for creating the darknet website, a hub of the illegal trafficking of heroin, cocaine, LSD, and other substances, all paid for in Bitcoin.
It remained to be seen whether Ulbricht would be able to access these funds following his pardon.
Price Action: At the time of writing, Bitcoin was exchanging hands at $103,150.67, down 2.17% in the last 24 hours, according to data from Benzinga Pro.
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Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of Benzinga Neuro and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.
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