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Empty Wallet

July 6, 2014 Leave a Comment

US Marshalls

Back in April we wrote about the Bitcoin the FBI confiscated from Silk Road:

http://www.coinmonkey.com/fbicoin/

Today, the wallet is virtually empty:

https://blockchain.info/address/1FfmbHfnpaZjKFvyi1okTjJJusN455paPH

The FBI auctioned the Bitcoin off to the highest bidder(s).  The day before, the media was in a frenzy about how it would create so much volume in one day, that the price of Bitcoin would tumble.  Looking at the price today, it’s up 5% since the auction.

The more important thing is that the FBI, and US Government, has now admitted that Bitcoin is a real currency, or means of exchange.

Imagine if they took other contraband and sold it when they were done.  Two tons of marijuana, or 100 liters of meth.   They can’t, because those items are illegal, and have no legitimacy in the US economy.

Apparently Bitcoin is legitimate.  Thank you FBI.

Filed Under: Cryptocurrency Tagged With: fbi coin, Silk Road, us government

FBICoin

January 8, 2014 Leave a Comment

FBIcoin

When the FBI busted the Silk Road website, they confiscated 144,000 Bitcoins.  You can check out their wallet here:  https://blockchain.info/address/1FfmbHfnpaZjKFvyi1okTjJJusN455paPH.  At today’s price, that is $144 Million dollars worth.

Every day the FBI confiscates drugs, cars, houses, guns, and money.  Typically they hold these items as evidence.  Once the criminal is prosecuted, the items are either destroyed or sold at auction.

As the case of Ross Ulbricht, the owner of Silk Road, comes to a close the FBI has hinted they plan to sell the Bitcoins.  Well guess what?  The FBI is essentially admitting that Bitcoin is a real currency.  If it was not a currency, they would have it classified as contraband and would destroy it.

Keep an eye on their wallet.  Once they start selling, they are admitting Bitcoin is for real.  Most likely, you can expect a price drop due to high volume selling.  Once all of the coins are absorbed by the market the price should recover even higher.

Seized Coins

Filed Under: Cryptocurrency Tagged With: 1FfmbHfnpaZjKFvyi1okTjJJusN455paPH, FBICoin, Ross Ulbricht, seized coins, Silk Road

Interview With A Millionaire

December 3, 2013 Leave a Comment

Bitcoin Millionaire

The following is a chat session with an individual named Michael:

MichLLL.  Sure, I don’t mind

Subg.  Who are you in real life? 🙂

MichLLL.  Well, I’m 27y/o and live in the midwest, USA.  I have a BS in Math, and currently work at a large pharma.  They are paying for me to attend grad school.  I should have a masters in Genetics in the spring of 2015.

Subg.  Do you own any bitcoin?

MichLLL.  Yes

Subg.  Come on, last week you gave me a number, like a 1000 or so??

MichLLL.  As of today, I have 800.

MichLLL.  Plus about 5 more on my phone.

Subg.  What happened to the 1000 figure?

MichLLL.  The stress was really getting to me, I was waiting for a bank wire for the sale of 200, and recently locked in the funds.  So now I have about 800.

Subg.  Damn, Is that real?  That is over $200k at todays price.

MichLLL.  It doesn’t feel like it yet, but every week I think it might be.

MichLLL.  I think once I pay off my townhouse it will sink in.

Subg.  When will you do that

MichLLL.  I’m going to the bank on Tuesday to get the payoff & settle the note.

Subg.  You know, taxes are going to get you.

MichLLL.  I know, I’m thinking about  a lawyer and acccountant for the next block sale.  I’d like to always have 100 coins, so I may sell 700 this year.  Some other guys on the forum are thinking about becoming German citizens to reduce their tax load.

Subg.  There are others like you 🙂

MichLLL.  Yeah, I know 5 or 6 with multiples of what I have.

Subg.  How did you get started on this ride??

MichLLL.  The shorter.. story is.  In college I got addicted to an RPG called Brothers In Arms.  To put things in perspective, I would go to my dorm room on Friday, and not leave until Sunday other than bathroom breaks.  I would only sleep a few hours.  The whole thing was really messing me up.  Then Ubisoft started having server problems and my connections were really slowing down.  Eventually everyone I knew stopped playing.  I packed up my liquid cooled $5500 desktop & went cold turkey.  I couldn’t bear to sell it, so just threw it under my bed.  I still had a school issued laptop & didn’t need the desktop.  The whole scenerio was the best thing that could have ever happened to me

Subg.  How’s that

MichLLL.  I probably wouldn’t have graduated and of course it led to where I am now.

MichLLL.  My brother Robert owed me $20 for beer and cigs.  Of course he’s always broke.  He got a degree in finance 3 years ago & still doesn’t have a job.  Anyway, he somehow got 40 bitcoins.  I’m sure you can figure where he got it, because he can barely turn on a computer.

Subg.  Silk Road?

MichLLL.  Something like that.  Silk Road wasn’t around then.   I took the coins, and starting reading about bitcoin.  Within weeks I was running a Linux mining script on my game machine.  The coins were rolling in.  At one point I traded 400 bitcoins for a second computer.  Within 6 months, both computers became worthless, at least for mining,  because they were too slow.  At that point I think I had about 2000 coins.  I used 1000 to build a mining rig with video cards.  That never really panned out because I kept having power problems.  That was a million $$ mistake, but I’m thankful for what I have.  I think that third computer probably cost $10k retail!

Subg.  Back to your 800 coins.  Why sell 700?

MichLLL.  I’m not really sure if the technology will make it.  I think the biggest factor will be regulation.  The technology is actually good, but some governments are already working on ways to discredit it.

Subg.  Why keep 100 then?

MichLLL.  If it does make it, the buzz # is $10,000 per coin.  Some guys throw around the million number,  I don’t believe that.   I think we can reach $10k in 2 years.  That will give me a mil.

Subg.  You know, your not really a millionaire now?

MichLLL.  I never said I was.  But yeah.  I don’t know a whole lot about the tax system(I’m learning quickly!), but once I sell those 700 I think I will owe about $300k in taxes.

Subg.  Thanks Michael.  I gotta run.  Getting late.

MichLLL.  NP.  Spread the word.

Filed Under: Cryptocurrency Tagged With: $10000 per coin, bitcoin millionaire, Silk Road

Crypto Currency and Illegal Activity

November 29, 2013 Leave a Comment

Silk Road SeizedIn October of 2013, the FBI ….announced that they arrested 29-year-old Ross William Ulbricht, the Silk Road’s accused administrator, in the Glen Park branch of the San Francisco Public Library at 3:15 Pacific time on Tuesday. Ulbricht has been charged with engaging in a money laundering and narcotics trafficking conspiracy as well as computer hacking. The Department of Justice has seized the Silk Road’s website as well as somewhere between $3.5 to 4 million in bitcoins, the cryptographic currency used to buy drugs on the Silk Road. http://www.forbes.com/sites/andygreenberg/2013/10/02/end-of-the-silk-road-fbi-busts-the-webs-biggest-anonymous-drug-black-market/

The media latched on to the link between Bitcoin and Illegal Activity.  Within days, Bitcoin plummeted from a high of $260 to $50.  One month later, Google has over 11 Million links to sites that mention “Silk Road” and “Bitcoin”: https://www.google.com/#q=%22silk+road%22+bitcoin&safe=off

Take a step back, and you will see the humor in the reporting.  First, go to Google and type in “drug” and “bust”: https://www.google.com/#q=drug+bust&safe=off

Then, click on the ‘Images’ tab: https://www.google.com/search?q=drug+bust&safe=off&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=-F2WUquWBO_iyAGtmYCoDQ&ved=0CAcQ_AUoAQ&biw=1366&bih=665  Of the first 25 pictures, 12 of them have US currency in the picture, one picture is almost comical(http://www.infojustice.com/Drug%20Lord16.jpg) .  To think that Bitcoin is any different than the US dollar, in regards to illegal activity, in a story portrayed by the media.

In fact, US currency is used so much for illegal activity, that over 1/3 of the money is laced with cocaine and other drugs: http://www.snopes.com/business/money/cocaine.asp, In 2009, the University of Massachusetts found 90% of a sample tested positive for drugs: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/money/new-study-finds-90-u-s-currency-cocaine-residue-article-1.401382.

So before you discount Bitcoin, or any crypto currency, as a tool for illegal activity, take a look at the dollars in your pocket.

Filed Under: Cryptocurrency Tagged With: crypto currency, money laundering, narcotics trafficking, Silk Road, US currency

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