Blockchain analysis suggests that a crypto wallet associated with the now-defunct dark internet marketplace Alphabay is responsible for the $31 million donation in Bitcoin made by Ross Ulbricht to Silk Road’s creator.
Chainalysis is a Blockchain Analytics firm that spoke with WIRED in a story on the 5th of June. report It had tied 300 Bitcoins.BTCUlbrich earlier this month Alphabay was a precursor to Silk Road, which operated between 2014 and 2017.
Chainalysis suggests that these funds were provided by a large vendor who had the access to this amount.
“We have reasonable grounds to suspect that these funds originated in AlphaBay,” Phil Larratt is the Chainalysis Director of Investigations. “Looking at the amount, that would suggest they came from someone who was possibly a vendor on AlphaBay back in the early days.”
ZachXBT, an independent blockchain investigator, confirmed that the 300 Bitcoins did not originate from Silk Road. He also noted suspicious patterns of how the money was moved by the donor.
The criminals used multiple mixing services in order to hide the transactions and they cashed out smaller amounts of other crypto currencies to avoid detection. This, he said, indicated that their origins were illegal.
ZachXBT said On X, the donor appears to be a “sketchy centralized mixing service,” Jambler was developed by privacy advocates who use other decentralized mixers, such as Wasabi. Samourai.
🔥 Today, Ross Ulbricht received $300,000. $BTC His donation wallet pic.twitter.com/51tnFbWmCa
— Cointelegraph (@Cointelegraph) June 1, 2025
Related: Silk Road founder’s belongings fetch $1.8M in Bitcoin auction
According to the analysis, it was determined that there were no funds in the account. “legitimate donation, but not legitimate funds,” ZachXBT spoke to WIRED
“Usage of multiple mixers, spreading out CEX [centralized exchange] deposits, etc, that is done typically if you are trying to avoid getting illicit funds frozen,” He said.
Alphabay takes down BTC links
Chainalysis’s identification of Bitcoin addresses that were linked with AlphaBay played a critical role in the takedown The darknet market is investigated in the investigation called “Operation Bayonet” The period covered 2016 and 2017
BTCs held after that date would have increased in value dramatically, possibly by more than 40 times, but it is unknown who the donors are and what their motives were.
Donald Trump was elected US President in January. fully pardoned Ross Ulbricht was in prison 12 years, serving a life-long sentence and 40 years of additional time for operating the Silk Road.
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Source: cointelegraph.com
