Blockchain info for 37,365 BTC seized by FBI | Hacker News Reader

Blockchain info for 37,365 BTC seized by FBI

blockchain.info

38 pointssinak20 comments

This is interesting but is there proof that these bitcoins have been seized? Is it related to Silk Road being shut down? I feel like I missed something.

Also it looks like there is a typo in the title, the linked site says that the transfer is for 27,365 bitcoins. Still a crazy amount.

I have no clue or context for what I'm supposed to be looking at, but the transfer of 0.1337 BTC is amusing at the very least.

haha yeah i saw that and had a giggle.

If it were seized by the Feds it'll be interesting to see where it goes. You'd think the first action would be to transfer all of it to new address controlled by the Fed. Otherwise nothing stops a "man on the outside" from doing the same on behalf of DPR. Anybody, anywhere could do it and the destination could be an offline address thats never been used before (eg cold storage address).

I think you have made this up.

the first transaction to this address happened yesterday, do you think the FBI waited for the whole world to know about the DPR arrest and then started seizing the bitcoins. I think it was you who after learning about the news items started making these transactions.

Congratulations on having such a huge number of bitcoins by the way

Question from someone with little bitcoin experience.

Does this require action on the part of the original bitcoin owner? Or in this case has the FBI seized all the keys/credentials required to do this themselves?

All you need is the private key to sign a transaction.

Which is usually encrypted and requires action (password disclosure) from the owner.

Not necessarily disclosure. A court could probably demand that the owner enter his password and engage in a transaction with the FBI / with the court / some court-appointed escrow. One might argue that by transferring the money they would incriminate themselves e.g. by demonstrating that they control it, but I do not think that would matter in terms of seizing the money.

If they shut down Silk Road, and they have a bunch of block chain info, a couple more cross references and a bunch of arrests could settle the bitcoin dispute pretty quickly.

How can the FBI seize BTC?

"I'm sorry Mr. Agent, but I forgot my wallet password!"

Okay, we'll just be taking your computer.

You don't hide a backup of your wallet on an ftp account somewhere or on a thumb drive?

I'm sure the FBI has it's own wallet.

"Funny how you were able to engage in a transaction yesterday, right before we arrested you. Let's see if the court believes your story about forgetting your password."

I'm sure most of the money is in a seldom used savings account. That's what's great about Bitcoin.

How does this link show that BTC was seized? Flagged.

~= $3,248,000 USD at present rates.

I don't understand. How do we know the FBI seized the bitcoins at this address?

Also, there are only 27,365 BTC there, but I assume that's a typo in the title here on HN.

if it is the FBI, at least they are making it easy to track.

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