The US government actually SOLD and profited from the btc seized from Silk Road

"Tim Draper, who on 2nd July revealed he purchased all of the nearly 30,000 BTC seized from now-defunct online black market Silk Road and sold by the US government.".
WTF. HOW are they allowed to do this? Wouldn't it be considered "evidence" in such a high profile case? Not to mention where all that btc came from...


Comments


[59 Points] hdheuud:

Ever hear of a police auction? Seized assets from drug dealers and felons. They sell them off. This is no different. Go check with your local PD if you're trying to get a car or a watch on the cheap


[16 Points] SacredGeometry25:

What else would they do with it?


[6 Points] therealslimcharles:

duh. wtf did you think they were gonna do with it? I bet they actually SOLD an profited crack into the inner cities in the 80s.


[1 Points] roykennedy:

I'll answer that with this. How did they make drugs illegal? How are they taking our rights to have guns away?


[1 Points] FedoraWearingAlien:

It's not speculation the US govt admitted they sold it, it was all over the news, selling them in big blocks to people.


[1 Points] 13tom13:

of course they profited from it they seized it; that was free and then sold it for however much. I heard they often wait for people to make lots of money and seize their property and cash in smaller cases too, its all a business


[1 Points] dastampmasta:

It was treated as property and just like anything else confiscated like a car etc.. it was auctioned. normal practice.


[1 Points] Vendor_BBMC:

You're making the common mistake of thinking that bitcoins exist.

They don't exist physically. They don't exist electronically. They don't live in wallets or cold storage bunkers, or flow through the internetr like emails or IP packets.

All there is, is a fdatabase file called "the blockchain", which is updated every 10 minutes, and programs which can edit an address, called "wallets". There are many thousands of copies of the blockchain on people's compuiters around the world, all updating and synchronizing so they agree with each other.

If the US government "send" 29,000 bitcoins to Tim Draper, nothing actually moves. The FBI address on the blockchain has the number MINUS 29,000 added to it. Tim Draper's address on the blockchain has PLUS 29,000 added.

It seems like something must have moved, because Tim Draper has 29000 more bitcoins than he had, and the FBI 29,000 less. But no bitcoins moved - they don't exist (except as a way for us to visualize the movement of wealth).

Think of the FBI and Draper having a tab at the same bar. A bunch of money was transferred from one tab to the other.

The blockchain is just a bunch of bar tabs. Bitcoins don't have traces of cocaine on them, like dollars. But in a way, they ALL do.


[1 Points] throwawaysr888:

you have to prove they were obtained legally. worth the watch... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=88T6HL7ZXEU


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