US Supreme Court Rejects Appeal in $4.4 Billion Silk Road Bitcoin Case

The U.S. Supreme Court has opted not to hear a case involving the ownership of 69,370 Bitcoin, valued at approximately $4.38 billion, which was confiscated by the government from the Silk Road dark web marketplace.

The petition was filed by Battle Born Investments, a firm claiming it had acquired the rights to the Bitcoin through a bankruptcy proceeding.

With the Supreme Court’s decision to reject the case, the government may now be positioned to sell the significant Bitcoin holding.

Battle Born had already lost in both district and appellate courts, failing to convince a San Francisco judge in 2022 and an appeals court in 2023 that they had legitimate ownership of the cryptocurrency following Silk Road’s closure in 2013.

In 2023, an appellate judge dismissed Battle Born’s claim, ruling that the firm did not have a legal right to the Bitcoin in question.

The Supreme Court hears only about 100 to 150 cases annually out of over 7,000 requests. By declining to review this case, the government’s civil forfeiture efforts are likely to move forward, possibly resulting in a sale of the Bitcoin.

Previously, on July 29, the U.S. government transferred roughly $2 billion worth of Bitcoin connected to Silk Road. The transfer was managed by the U.S. Marshals Service, which relies on Coinbase Prime for cryptocurrency custody.

Past government sales of large Bitcoin amounts have led to market instability. For example, the German government offloaded nearly 50,000 Bitcoin, valued at over $3.15 billion, during June and July, contributing to notable market fluctuations.

The U.S. government’s plans for the remaining Bitcoin remain unclear. On the political front, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has pledged to establish a “strategic Bitcoin reserve” if he wins the November 5 election. Meanwhile, Democratic candidate Kamala Harris has not made any public statements regarding how she would handle cryptocurrency seized by the government.

Silk Road was founded by Ross Ulbricht in 2011. Ulbricht is currently serving a life sentence on charges including conspiracy to commit money laundering and drug distribution.

Trump has also vowed to pardon Ulbricht if he is elected president.

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