On November 3, the US Department of justice confiscated more than $1 billion worth of BTC. These coins were from the Silk Road – the most famous dark-market.
They also confiscated the equivalent number in Bitcoin Cash, Bitcoin SV, and Bitcoin Gold. The Agency stressed that this was the largest amount in cryptocurrency ever confiscated by the US authorities.
According to a court document, the owner of the address, who is also known as Individual X, hacked SilkRoad and stole these coins. That coins were withdrawn from the dark-market on May 6, 2012. A year after the withdrawal, they were moved to the address where they remained until the moment of confiscation.
On November 3, Individual X signed an agreement to transfer the coins to law enforcement. On November 4, the price of coins exceeded $1 billion, while the price of Bitcoin increased.
In tracing the 54 transactions connected with Silk Road, authorities contributed to the Chainalysis.
In the past, US authorities have already sold SilkRoad bitcoins at auction. In July 2014, venture capitalist Tim Draper purchased 30,000 BTC confiscated from the dark-market.