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Mysterious Fund Flow: Millions in Bitcoin from Illegal Website Surface #
Silk Road, once a notorious darknet marketplace for illegal trade, continues to capture attention. Founder Ross Ulbricht was sentenced to double life imprisonment, but recent movements of millions of dollars in bitcoin show the story isn’t over yet.
What is Silk Road? #
Silk Road was a marketplace on the darknet that facilitated the trade of illegal goods using bitcoin. For these crimes, Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht was sentenced in 2015 to double life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.
About a year ago, U.S. President Donald Trump granted Ulbricht a full pardon.
The New York Justice Department has seized $3.36 billion in cryptocurrency from Silk Road in connection with fraud, confiscating over 50,000 bitcoin. It is suspected that not all of Silk Road’s bitcoin were seized during this operation.
Movement of $3.14 Million in Bitcoin #
Wallets linked to Silk Road conducted a few small test transactions earlier this year. The 176 transfers totaling $3 million represent the most significant movements in the past five years.
On Tuesday, December 9, 2025, according to Arkham, a blockchain data platform, several wallets became active again, and the Silk Road account transferred $3.14 million in bitcoin.
The coins were sent to an unknown wallet, bc1qn. This wallet only holds these coins, suggesting it was created for this occasion.
Wallets associated with Silk Road still hold approximately $38 million in bitcoin. It remains unclear whether authorities seized all wallets during the confiscation of Silk Road wallet contents.
How Much Might Ulbricht Still Have? #
According to Conor Grogan of Coinbase, Ulbricht may still possess 430 bitcoin. He has linked dozens of wallets to Ulbricht, containing fractions of bitcoin that haven’t been touched for 13 years. During that time, they could have been considered dust wallets (wallets with coins of negligible value), but now they are suddenly worth $47 million.
Another wallet likely belonging to Ulbricht contains $8.3 million in bitcoin. In the past 10 months, some test transactions have been made through this wallet, but according to Arkham, it has been inactive for 14 years otherwise.