51,351 bitcoins. That is the amount seized by the US Attorney’s Office in the investigation of James Zhong, who is currently on trial for committing Silk Road fraud in 2011 and 2012.

Zhong’s Fraud

Zhong allegedly committed fraud by making quick transactions that misled Silk Road’s payment system. On September 19, 2012, Zhong deposited 500 bitcoins into his Silk Road wallet, after which he made five withdrawals of these 500 bitcoins within one second. The system paid out 2500 bitcoins in this way. Zhong did this for a period of time across nine accounts to protect his identity.

In this way he eventually managed to get hold of 53,500 bitcoins. The price of bitcoin during the period Zhong carried out his plan ranged between $1 in 2011 and $13.50 in 2012. Today, the price is close to $20,000, making the embezzled bitcoin amount worth nearly $1 billion at today’s price.

Police services have been looking for Zhong’s gigantic sum of bitcoins for more than ten years, says public prosecutor Damian Williams in the official press release of the OM. ??????Thanks to advancements in cryptographic tracing, we have finally recovered and seized this impressive stash of crime money.???? ??

Silk road

Silk Road was a digital black market that was online from 2011 to 2013. The platform was notorious for facilitating the sale of illegal substances, such as drugs and weapons. The website used payments in bitcoins to keep the identity of users unknown. Silk Road was eventually shut down by the FBI in 2013 and founder Ross Ulbricht was sentenced to an unconditional life sentence.

Since Ulbricht’s conviction in 2015, US authorities have been searching for bitcoins that have changed hands through Silk Road. Silk Road was the center of bitcoin payments in the early 1910s. 9.5 million bitcoins were traded between 2011 and 2013, while only 11.75 million bitcoins were in circulation at the time.

Two years ago, the US authorities seized a record amount of bitcoins, about 69,370. This amount came from someone who hacked the Silk Road system and sent the bitcoins to his own wallets.

Silk Road was responsible for the awareness of bitcoin among the general public in the early days. The website showed how bitcoin could be used as a means of payment, even though the goods were illegal. However, this mainly made Bitcoin known as a tool for criminals.