Seized Silk Road Bitcoin to Clear Ross Ulbricht's $183M Debt

A court filing reveals that bitcoin seized in 2020 will be used to repay the Silk Road founder's debt to the U.S. government.

By Oliver Knight

Apr 22, 2022 at 3:19 p.m. UTC

Updated Apr 22, 2022 at 4:24 p.m. UTC

CoinDesk - Unknown — "Human Blockchain," a painting made by Ross Ulbricht in prison (Danny Nelson/CoinDesk)

Oliver Knight

Oliver Knight is a CoinDesk reporter based between London and Lisbon. He does not own any crypto.

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Silk Road creator Ross Ulbricht will see his $183 million debt wiped out following the seizure of $3 billion in bitcoin connected to an unnamed Silk Road hacker, according to a court filing.

In 2015, Ulbricht was sentenced to life in prison without parole. He was also ordered to pay $183 million in restitution, a figure calculated from the total illegal sales on Silk Road using an exchange rate at the time of each transaction.
Court documents in 2020 reveal that the Justice Department seized 69,370 bitcoins from a hacker who moved the trove to a private wallet in April 2013.
Ulbricht has been given a surprising reprieve, with the Justice Department making a deal with him in February 2021 that forfeits any claim Ulbricht may have had to the stolen bitcoin in exchange for the restitution to be repaid once the bitcoin is sold.
"The parties agree that the net proceeds realized from the sale of the [bitcoin] forfeited pursuant to this agreement shall be credited toward any unpaid balance of the Money Judgment," the court filing reads.
There is currently no set date on when the auction for the seized bitcoin will take place.

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