Bitcoin donations flow in for Ross Ulbricht – which may already be at $ 47 million in old portfolios

After President Donald Trump’s pardon of Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht Tuesday, the Bitcoin community gathered and dumped crypto into the Ulbritcht Donation Fund on Freeross.org. But does he need the money?

Ulbricht could already be millions in Bitcoin, according to Conor Grogan, a director of the San Francisco-based cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase. Grogan noted that around 430 BTC – around $ 47 million – conscious that is untouched in the wallet may be linked to Ulbricht. This wallet have been dormant for more than 13 years, he said.

“I found ~ 430 BTC about dozens of portfolios associated with Ross Ulbricht that were not seized by the [U.S. government] And have been untouched for 13+ years, “Grogan posted on X.” At the time, these were probably dust sport, now, collective, they are worth around $ 47 million, “Grogan continued.

According to Arkham Intelligence data, fourteen Bitcoin addresses linked to the Silk Road jointly $ 47 million to Bitcoin, which confirms the figure of Grogan. The cluster of portfolios identified as “Silk Road” on Arkham includes the account that starts in “1CQV” that Grogan shared in a screenshot and that only has more than $ 9 million in Bitcoin.

Decrypt Has still had to confirm independently that these portfolios are actually in ulbricht, or that these funds have previously been marked by the US government for seizure. At least one wallet recorded in Arkham’s Silk Road cluster – the account that was identified as “Silk Road: Individual X (1HQ3G)” – was previously accessible by the US government during a forfeiture procedure in November 2020.

When the Bitcoin was first moved in 2020 in the wallet “1hq3G”, when more than $ 1 billion was worth more than $ 1 billion, it was also spoken that Ulbricht was somehow access had maintained and even transferred the coins behind bars. It was only days later that the US government resolved the mystery by announcing that it had seized the funds of a hacker – only identified as “individual X” – which the Bitcoin of a Silk Road account in 2012 or 2013 had stolen.

If the wallet belongs to a Bitcoin treasure of more than $ 47 million with the former founder of Silk Road, it is unknown whether he still has the private keys for one of them. The money can be invaluable; It is thought that no less than 20% of the total range of Bitcoin in portfolios is of which the owners have lost the keys, died or disappeared, including the portion of Bitcoin inventer Satoshi Nakamoto, with 1.1 million BTC (about $ 115 billion worth.)

Since his release, Ulbricht has not given interviews, nor replied to Grogan on X. Decrypt has contacted Ulbricht for comment.

In the meantime, donations have been flowing in Ulbricht since his release of the Federal Penitentiary on Tuesday. The cryptocurrency exchange cracking contributed to Ulbricht on Wednesday $ 111.111.

According to Arkham Intelligence, his wallet address has received 2.62 BTC, around $ 272,000, including the Kraken donation. Another address associated with Ulbricht has collected $ 4,615 in Ethereum, USDC, Tether (USDT) and Binance Coin (BNB).

“At this pace he has $ 1 million in 3 days,” journalist Pete Rizzo said On X.

Even if Ulbricht arranges the portfolios in question, it is still unknown whether the US government would try to seize silk -related money. Earlier this month, a federal court authorized the sale of $ 6.5 billion seized Silk Road Bitcoin. And tell crypto legal experts Decrypt Those federal authorities could come after each sides related Bitcoin.

“If the authorities later think that they can link to the original crime (s), they can try to grab it, even after release, assuming that the status of limitations did not expire,” Eli Cohen, general counsel for Tokenized Asset Platform Centrifuge, told Decodeer.

Much of the Bitcoin that currently owns the United States is partly due to the seized by the US Department of Justice. Cohen pointed to the 50,676 bitcoin who seized the IRS from another Silk Road -Hacker, James Zhong, in November 2021. “Normally the authorities for federal crimes would have frozen or seized that his proceeds from the crime believe are, including crypto like Bitcoin, “said Cohen.