Market News: U.S. Department of Justice approves sale of $6.5 billion worth of seized Silk Road Bitcoins

PANews, January 9, DB News reported that a U.S. official confirmed that a federal judge ruled on December 30 that the Department of Justice could sell 69,370 Bitcoins seized from the Silk Road darknet market. A years-long dispute over ownership of seized bitcoins has finally been settled after Battle Born Investments failed in its bid to delay the sale. The group had claimed the bitcoins belonged to its bankruptcy estate and lost a recent Freedom of Information Act case.

Lawyers for Battle Born called this "yet another egregious example of the Department of Justice's abuse of its civil asset forfeiture process" and claimed the government "relyed on procedural subterfuge to ensure the facts are never known." The Justice Department cited Bitcoin’s price volatility in seeking permission to sell the assets. When asked about next steps, a spokesperson for the Department of Justice said: "The government will continue to move forward based on the judgment in this case." Currently, the seized Bitcoins are worth approximately US$6.5 billion.