US Supreme Court Rejects Appeal On Silk Road Bitcoin Case

According to PANews, the US Supreme Court has declined to hear an appeal concerning 69,370 bitcoins linked to the Silk Road marketplace, effectively lifting restrictions on the sale of the $4.4 billion worth of cryptocurrency. Battle Born Investments acquired the bankruptcy claims after the Silk Road, operated by Ross Ulbricht, was shut down in 2013. The company asserts ownership of the bitcoins seized from 'Individual X,' who allegedly stole them from Silk Road. The disputed wallet, identified as 1HQ3...Hbhx, has been emptied and is now under US government control, awaiting court instructions. Battle Born requested a review of its claim, arguing that it is an 'innocent owner of the defendant property' based on its status as a purchaser of bankruptcy assets. However, since the nine justices will not hear the case this term, the forfeiture order from the US District Court is likely to stand. Although some procedural and legal reviews are still required before the US government can sell the bitcoins, the Supreme Court's decision paves the way for the US Marshals to potentially auction off additional billions of dollars in cryptocurrency.