An anonymous user has moved almost $1 billion of BTC for the first time in five years
69,370 BTC (worth almost $1 billion at the time of transfer) has been moved from an address linked with the Silk Road site that was shut down in 2013. The wallet address is the fourth largest and has been dormant for the past five years.
Before its closure, Silk Road was a popular darknet market that allowed users to trade illegal goods and services such as drugs and arms. Its founder Ross Ulbricht, a computer scientist, was arrested by authorities in 2013. He was later convicted of hacking, money laundering, and conspiracy to traffic identity documents & narcotics.
The transaction happened in two phases. First, the user sent 1 BTC – probably as a test before sending the rest of the coins.
According to CipherTrace, the transaction is probably a move to stay updated with the Bitcoin network or a hacking incident. The last time a user moved funds associated with the now-defunct Silk Road market was back in 2015.
In the November 3rd report, CipherTrace also added that a hacking incident could explain the transaction.
“These movements could possibly mean that the wallet owner is moving funds to new addresses to prevent hackers from accessing the wallet.dat file or that hackers have already cracked the file”, the firm explained.
The wallet had reportedly been moved around hackers for about two years with an attempt to crack the password. During this period, no hacker or cracker managed to do so. A Bitcoin user purporting to have the wallet.dat file for the wallet asked on Twitter two months ago if it was possible to access the 69,000+ coins. The user went on to propose employing a quantum computer to work out the private keys.
“I have the wallet, @Google hook me up with a quantum computer please,” he posted.
It is unknown if a hacker managed to break the wallet finally or the owner made the transaction. Nonetheless, it is a transaction that will make waves in the crypto sector.