A Reddit post has been the cause of speculations regarding the move of more than 100,000 bitcoin and bitcoin cash to over 80 subwallets.
People are starting to suspect that the wallet from which the millions worth of bitcoin have been moved over the years are linked to ‘Dread Pirate Roberts’ (DPR) and/or the dark web’s Silk Road. Usually Ross Ulbricht, currently serving his life imprisonment for operating the darknet marketplace, is the name associated with DPR, however, there is evidence that it is rather a name of a position than a nickname.
The account in question has been active since 2011 and is reportedly linked to the Silk Road endeavor since one of its first transactions was receiving nearly 41,000 bitcoin from an alleged Ross Ulbricht wallet. However, there are doubts that the account belongs to the infamous DPR since the account has been active while its reputed owner is behind bars since 2015. In 2018 there have been five instances of activity.
Theories are spreading regarding the ownership of this mysterious wallet. One such theory is that the wallet might belong to Dr. Craig Wright, who claims to be the bitcoin founder Satoshi Nakamoto.
Another hypothesis suggests that it’s a cold wallet of Mt Gox, which has been confiscated after its bankruptcy. Possibly the transactions conducted are part of the civil rehabilitation program that aims to reimburse the wronged users. Both theories about Ross Ulbricht and Mt Gox may be true since the activities of Silk Road were known to be linked to Mt Gox.
WHY IS THIS IMPORTANT?
- Such huge amounts of bitcoin have the potential of sending shockwaves throughout the market, which may lead, if not to a total, then at least to a partial collapse.
- If this wallet indeed belongs to Ross Ulbricht, then the money acquired through drug sales that resides in bitcoin can be a strong argument against the implementation of crypto for the skeptics.