U.S. DOJ seizes a record $3.36 billion worth of Bitcoin linked to the dark web

The United States Department of Justice (DOJ) has announced the seizure of a record $3.36 billion worth of Bitcoin (BTC) connected to the Silk Road dark web fraud. 

The seizure involving 50,676 saw the accused, James Zhong, plead guilty to unlawfully obtaining the cryptocurrency, the DOJ said in a press statement on November 7. 

Zhong, accused of stealing bitcoin from the Silk Road marketplace, is said to have deployed sophisticated measures to hide the proceeds. 

“This seizure was then the largest cryptocurrency seizure in the history of the U.S. Department of Justice and today remains the Department’s second largest financial seizure ever,” the DOJ said. 

Cryptocurrency tracing 

According to Damian Williams, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, the crime was committed almost a decade ago, with the whereabouts of the Bitcoin remaining unknown. However, with a search warrant, the government seized the assets from Zhong’s home on November 9, 2021. 

“Thanks to state-of-the-art cryptocurrency tracing and good old-fashioned police work, law enforcement located and recovered this impressive cache of crime proceeds. This case shows that we won’t stop following the money, no matter how expertly hidden, even to a circuit board in the bottom of a popcorn tin,” said Williams. 

Following Zhong’s guilty plea to wire fraud charges, the 32-year-old now faces a possible jail sentence of up to 20 years. 

Notably, Silk Road was an online black market leveraged mainly by drug dealers and other unlawful vendors distributing illicit goods and services.