US Marshals to Auction 50,000 Bitcoins in March

The US Marshals will auction $11.85m in bitcoins in connection with a civil forfeiture action against and the criminal conviction of Ross Ulbricht.

Feb 18, 2015, 5:45 PM

Updated Aug 18, 2021, 3:40 PM

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The US Marshals Service has announced it will auction off 50,000 BTC, worth $11.85m at press time, to the public on 5th March.

The auction will take place from 8:00 EST to 14:00 EST, with bids being accepted only by pre-registered participants. Bidders must complete the registration process by 2nd March to be eligible, while winning bidders will be notified 6th March.

As in previous auctions, the 50,000 BTC will be split into smaller auction blocks. This time 20 in total will be auctioned, with 10 blocks of 2,000 BTC and 10 blocks of 3,000 BTC for sale.

The federal agency, which manages assets seized during criminal investigations, obtained the coins from original owner Ross Ulbricht, who was recently convicted of running the online black market Silk Road and now awaits sentencing.

The news follows statements to CoinDesk in January that indicated the agency would plan to move forward with another bitcoin auction in the first quarter of 2015.

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