Silk Road Bitcoin Wallets Move $3M After Years of Inactivity

Silk Road–linked Bitcoin wallets have suddenly sprung back to life, moving $3.14 million in BTC after years of near-total inactivity — a notable shift that comes less than one year after former U.S. President Donald Trump issued a full pardon to Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht.

According to blockchain analytics platform Arkham, the transfers took place on Tuesday and consisted of 176 individual transactions, making this the most significant movement in Silk Road–tagged wallets in five years. Earlier in 2024, only three small test transactions were recorded, underscoring how unusual this sudden burst of activity is.

$3.14M in BTC moved to a new, unknown address

All 176 transfers were sent to a newly created Bitcoin address beginning with bc1qn, whose ownership remains unknown. The primary Silk Road–associated wallets still hold approximately $38.4 million in Bitcoin, while the new address contains only the recently moved $3.14 million.

Cointelegraph could not independently verify who controls the new wallet and has reached out to Ulbricht for clarification.

Arkham’s dashboards show that the moved BTC represents only a fraction of what Silk Road–linked wallets still contain, further fueling speculation about whether additional transfers could follow.

In January, President Trump issued a full pardon to Ross Ulbricht, who had been serving a double life sentence without parole for creating and running Silk Road — the notorious darknet marketplace that enabled anonymous trading of illicit goods using Bitcoin.

Following the pardon, the Free Ross campaign has received more than $270,000 in BTC donations, according to on-chain data.

Millions in dormant Silk Road wallets remain untouched

Although U.S. authorities seized at least $3.36 billion in Bitcoin connected to Silk Road, blockchain investigators argue that Ulbricht control—or controlled—multiple additional wallets that were never discovered during the seizure process.

Two notable dormant wallets tied to Silk Road include:

• 430 BTC (~$47M) in a wallet identified by Coinbase director Conor Grogan, untouched for over 13 years
• Another Silk Road–tagged wallet holding $8.3M in BTC, inactive for 14 years aside from minor test transactions across the last 10 months

These untouched wallets have contributed to long-running speculation about how much BTC Ulbricht may still have access to — and whether more movements like today’s could signal broader changes behind the scenes.

Why this transfer matters

The sudden reactivation of long-dormant Silk Road wallets represents one of the most significant on-chain events tied to the historic darknet marketplace in recent years. With over $38 million still sitting in tagged wallets, blockchain intelligence firms are closely watching for further activity.

The combination of Ulbricht’s recent pardon, the renewed supporter momentum, and these unexpected wallet movements has revived interest in one of crypto’s most iconic and controversial stories.