After nearly five years of dormancy, a total of 33.7 bitcoins (BTC), valued at over $3 million, have been moved from wallets associated with Silk Road.
The identity behind these transfers remains unknown; however, the aggregated funds were subsequently directed to a Coinbase Prime deposit address.
These 176 transactions were first identified by the X account DarkWebInformer, which pointed to a collection of Silk Road-tagged addresses on the blockchain explorer Arkham.
Further reading: What amount of bitcoin would Ross Ulbricht possess if Trump grants him freedom?
Small amounts of BTC were shifted from numerous individual addresses within this cluster into one consolidation address: bc1qnysx9sr0s7uw39awr3hh099d5m0lvrnxz7ga54.
Around 24 hours after the final transfer from this Silk Road group, all 33.7 BTC moved to an intermediary wallet before being sent to an address marked as “Coinbase Prime Deposit.”
The last outgoing transaction from these bundled addresses prior to this activity occurred on February 2, 2021.
An estimated remaining balance of approximately 416 BTC—worth about $37.5 million—is still held in these wallets.
The History Behind Silk Road
Silk Road was primarily a darknet marketplace focused on drug sales that operated between 2011 and 2013. Transactions were conducted using Bitcoin (BTC), with the platform charging fees for its services.
The marketplace was shut down following the arrest of its founder Ross Ulbricht; authorities seized around 144,336 BTC during that time. Although sold in 2017 for $48 million, those bitcoins would be valued at roughly $13 billion today.
Additions seizures related to Silk Road assets took place in November both in 2020 and again in November 2021—amounting respectively to over $1 billion and more than $3 billion worth of Bitcoin confiscated.
A year later James “Jimmy” Zhong admitted guilt for stealing funds linked with Silk Road back in 2012.
Moreover, two former federal agents faced charges for allegedly misappropriating digital currency during their investigation into Silk Road activities.
Ulbricht was released after nearly ten years behind bars through a presidential pardon granted earlier this year in January.
Read more: Trump pardons Ross Ulbricht but deputy remains incarcerated
Mystery Surrounding These Transfers
The source responsible for moving these coins is still unclear; speculation among users on X ranges widely—from theories suggesting an FBI agent nearing retirement up to claims involving Mark Karpeles (former Mt Gox CEO) as possibly being connected or even owning Silk Road itself unofficially.
Beyond just this bundle tied directly with SilkRoad-related wallets listed by Arkham include entities labeled “US Government: SilkRoad DOJ Confiscated Funds,” “US Government: Ross Ulbricht Confiscated Funds,” “James Zhong,” and also one tagged as “SilkRoad Hacker.”
The movements come out from legacy Bitcoin addresses starting with ‘1,’ indicating they are older wallets dating back specifically toward when SilkRoad operated.
Transaction records reveal activity prior until leftover balances were transferred into designated seizure accounts some twelve years ago — recent consolidations involve only residual low-value dust left after official confiscation periods.