U.S. Department of Justice to sell bitcoins worth over $6 billion

The U.S. Department of Justice has received permission from a federal court to sell 69,370 bitcoins valued at approximately $6.58 billion, which were confiscated from the darknet marketplace Silk Road. This was reported by DB News.

Last fall, Battle Born Investment, a company that attempted to claim the confiscated assets through bankruptcy proceedings, lost the court case. The group tried to uncover the identity of the individual known as Individual X, who hacked Silk Road and from whom the authorities seized the bitcoins.

The company's lawyer described the court's decision as "a glaring example of the Justice Department's abuse of the civil asset forfeiture process." The department, during the legal proceedings, insisted on selling the bitcoins, citing their volatility. A representative of the Justice Department stated that "the government intends to act in accordance with the ruling in this case."

Earlier, the Indian cryptocurrency exchange CoinSwitch launched the CoinSwitch Cares fund worth 600 million rupees (approximately $69.9 million), created to return funds to users of the WazirX platform.