A whole bunch of crypto wallets linked to now-defunct darknet market Silk Highway simply moved Bitcoin, lower than a 12 months since US President Donald Trump gave its founder Ross Ulbricht a full and unconditional pardon.
On-chain information tracked by blockchain sleuth Arkham Intelligence exhibits that about 312 Silk Highway wallets that had been dormant for over a decade, collectively moved $3.14 million price of Bitcoin on Tuesday to a brand new pockets recognized as “bc1q…ga54.”
Silk Highway-associated wallets carried out solely three small take a look at transactions earlier this 12 months. As of publication time, it’s nonetheless unclear why the wallets instantly woke up on Tuesday. In accordance with Arkham, the first Silk Highway wallets nonetheless maintain round $38.37 million price of BTC, whereas the newly created deal with holds solely the $3.14 million acquired within the Tuesday transfers.
Is Ross Ulbricht Accountable For The Newest Transfers?
From 2011 to 2013, Ulbricht operated the infamous Silk Highway market beneath the alias “Dread Pirate Roberts.” He was arrested by the FBI in 2013 and later convicted on a laundry record of fees associated to the creation and operating of Silk Highway.
11 years after being sentenced to 2 life phrases plus 40 years with out parole, President Trump signed the pardon that launched Ross Ulbricht in January 2025.
Whereas the US authorities confiscated roughly $3.36 billion in Bitcoin from Ulbricht’s Silk Highway following the platform’s shutdown in 2013, some pundits declare that he had a number of Bitcoin wallets that had been neglected throughout the asset seizure.
In January, Coinbase Director Conor Grogan claimed to have recognized roughly $47 million price of BTC in wallets linked to Ulbricht, which had been dormant for over 13 years. On Tuesday, Grogan referenced that submit in a response to Plasma Basis’s pseudonymous operator “0xG00gly,” who flagged the newest Silk Highway-linked transactions.

