Ross Ulbricht received a $31 million donation from a dark web dealer, Crypto Tracers Suspect

When Ross Ulbricht received $31 million Bitcoin Last weekend, donations from unknown sources, many observers saw it as more than a very wonderful welcoming gift. Rumors have been swirling that the creator of the Silk Road would swirl within five months Get pardoned He sent himself a pack of detective proceeds hidden from his time, from Donald Trump, who saved him from his prison life. Operates Dark Web’s first black market Over 10 years ago.

Now, cryptocurrency trackers say they have reached the description of strangers: the money is not originally from Ulbriccht and does not come from the Silk Road. Instead, they suspect it came from a different Long-retired Dark Web Black Market: Alphabey.

Based on blockchain analysis, Crypto Tracing Firm Chainalysis tells Wired that it links the origins of 300 Bitcoins related to Alphabay, a dark web market that sells a wide range of drugs and cybercriminal contrabands from 2014 to 2017, and ultimately sized the size of the FBI.

According to chain melting, the funds appear to have emerged from Alpha Bay around 2016 and 2017. Given the amount of donations, the chain analysis suggests that it may come from people who acted as large sellers in the market. “There is a reasonable basis for doubting that these funds come from Alphabey,” says Phil Laratt, investigative director at Chain Olisis and a former employee of the UK’s National Crime Agency. “If you look at that amount, it suggests that they came from someone who was probably the Alpha Bay vendor in their early days.”

Wired reached out to Ulbricht to comment on the origins of the donation via contacts in the free Ross campaign.

Known as an independent crypto tracker before discovering chain analysis that appears to have occurred on Alphabay Zachxbt Already there Posted to his account on x His own discovery that money didn’t appear to come from the Silk Road. ZachxBT discovered that despite donors taking in the user’s coins and using other Bitcoin “mixers” to obfuscate trails on the blockchain, he was able to track funds to addresses that flagged the software tool reactors of chain analysis, which are tied to illegal activities. The analysis suggested that the money was “not a legitimate donation, but not a legitimate fund,” Zachxbt wrote in a text message to the wired.

Zachxbt also found that the same individual who controlled the funds cashed out other cryptocurrencies in a small number of distributed quantities rather than a single amount. “Uses multiple mixers, use of CEX deposits, etc.” Zachxbt writes, “it happens when you are trying to avoid freezing illegal funds,” as you use the term CEX to mean centralized exchange.