This from www.infopackets.com/9145/us-govt-auction-virtual-currency
US Government to Auction Virtual Currency
by John Lister on June, 18 2014 at 12:06PM EDT
Silk Road was not part of the ordinary World Wide Web, and could only be accessed using special web browser software. That made it extremely difficult to trace anyone using the site and their activity. The site was well known in the digital underground community for buying and selling services of both a legal and illegal nature.
Officials shut down Silk Road in October, accusing Ross William Ulbricht (also known as "Dread Pirate Roberts") of being the site's creator, as well as being involved in both drug smuggling and a hitman operation. Ulbricht denies those accusations and his legal case is ongoing. The site quickly reopened, apparently under different administration. (Source: bbc.co.uk)
The Bitcoins that will be part of the auction are not those from the personal "account" of Ulbricht, which remain the subject of legal dispute about whether they are the proceeds of crime. Instead, the auction is for 29,656.51306529 Bitcoins which "resided on Silk Road servers" and were forfeited as part of the site's closure. (Source: usmarshals.gov)
Bitcoin Virtual Currency Entirely Unregulated
Bitcoins are a virtual currency which is neither issued by a national government nor regulated by any authority. In simple terms, each Bitcoin belongs to whoever has the relevant access code to the Bitcoin on their computer. Recently Tokyo-based Bitcoin trader Mt Gox filed for bankruptcy protection after hackers broke into the system and made off with an estimated $473 million dollars.
Supporters point to the lack of financial middlemen and transaction fees, as well as noting that there can only ever be a fixed number of Bitcoins in circulation, unlike traditional currencies which can be devalued if governments print more money. Critics argue that the value of Bitcoins fluctuates heavily and that the money effectively disappears if somebody loses their access code.
Bitcoin Auction Bidders Must Deposit $200,000
The auction is made up of nine sets of 3,000 Bitcoins each and one set of the remaining 2,656. Bidders will need to deposit a refundable $200,000 before they can take part in the sealed-bid auction. The US Marshal Service also notes that it "... will not sell to any person who is acting on behalf of or in concert with the Silk Road and/or Ross William Ulbricht, and bidders will be required to so certify."
There will be a three day gap between the bidding window and the winners being notified and having their first opportunity to pay up and collect their Bitcoins, during which the value of Bitcoins against other currencies may have changed enough to make the winning bid a bargain or a blunder.
What's Your Opinion?
Do you trust virtual currencies such as Bitcoin more or less than traditional money? Do you think that the government auctioning off these Bitcoins provide the virtual currency more legitimacy? Can you see Bitcoins becoming popular among the general public, or will they always be something that appeals only to tech-heads?
I agree Kristyne,
The NSA can probably hack them, they can hack into everything else. The whole Bicoin craze feels like the tulip craze way back when, just a fad. That said I think local currencies are a great idea, the more competition for the government backed currencies, the better. I like the gold and silver based ones myself. It's a shame that the liberty dollar was raided and shut down by the Feds. The creator of that currency is still fighting legal charges of counterfeighting, even though the coins were easily distinguishable from the government money and also even though his currency really couldn't be counterfeighted unlike our US dollar that gets counterfeighted every time a bank lends out a loan.