World's Biggest Bitcoin Wallet Owned By U.S. Government
By Ryan W. Neal on December 18 2013
Bitcoin, an anonymous and unregulated digital currency, has become the poster child for the libertarian ideals of eliminating the Federal Reserve, avoiding inflation and keeping currency separated from governments. As it turns out, however, the world's largest bitcoin holder is the U.S. government.
The largest bitcoin wallet in the world, according to BitcoinRichList, which ranks the top 100 richest bitcoin addresses, contains more than 144,341 bitcoins, which is equivalent to roughly $86 million. While the owners of bitcoin accounts are anonymous, the transactions are all public, and the descriptions of this account’s transactions are all described as “DPR Seized Coins.”
In October, the FBI shut down Silk Road, an infamous Internet-only black market, and it arrested Ross William Ulbricht, who the FBI said was the owner of Silk Road, named Dread Pirate Roberts, or DPR. Later that month, New York U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara announced that the government had seized 144,336 bitcoins from Ulbricht.
Not only do the amount of bitcoins and the transaction descriptions match, but the first occurrence of a “DPR Seized Coins” transaction took place on Oct. 25, the same day Bharara announced the seizure. It seems safe to conclude that the Blockchain wallet is owned by the FBI.
World's Biggest Bitcoin Wallet Owned By U.S. Government