Dying to get your hands on millions of dollars in Bitcoins? Well, now you can. The U.S. Marshall is “inviting bids” for roughly 26,656 Bitcoins seized from online black market Silk Road.
That large stake is worth a little over $16 million. For now. The auction could cause the currency to depreciate. The value of the alternative currency already took a hit on the news, falling from $634.38 to $568.87 since the U.S. Marshall’s announcement. It has since recovered to $602.30 according to Preev. Bitcoin has a history of price volatility, but this recent decline seems to be linked to the auction.
[aditude-amp id="flyingcarpet" targeting='{"env":"staging","page_type":"article","post_id":1491570,"post_type":"story","post_chan":"none","tags":null,"ai":false,"category":"none","all_categories":"business,","session":"D"}']Interested parties must register by Monday, June 16, 2014. In addition to registration forms and proof of identification, registrants will have to wire a $200,000 deposit. The auction will take place on June 27.
To clarify, these coins do not specifically belong to Pirate Dread Roberts aka. Ross William Ulbricht, who the FBI arrested in October for owning and operating Silk Road. These are coins that existed on the Silk Road servers. You’ll have to wait awhile longer for that auction, as Ulbricht has yet to plead guilty. He and his lawyer hope to recover his roughly 29,000 Bitcoin by the end of the trial.
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