The first case of confiscation of bitcoins

    The US Drug Enforcement Administration has reported the confiscation of bitcoins owned by Eric Daniel Hughes because the property was “acquired or spent illegally,” namely through the sale or purchase of illegal substances.

    The newsletter indicated that the South Carolina County on April 12, 2013 confiscated 11.02 BTC from the address 1ETDwGUC1QcjYuehFr3u1FD3MvDaUs7SFy.

    Apparently, this is the first time that bitcoins were seized by an official procedure. The transaction history shows that 11.02 BTC were received at the indicated address on April 12 and spent on April 17. According to experts, in this case, the confiscation was most likely carried out as a result of a special operation on the underground Silk Road exchange. The US Drug Enforcement Administration could open a dummy account (honeypot), after which the coins received from the buyer will be confiscated.



    Typically, these are not the only operations for the wallet 1ETDwGUC1QcjYuehFr3u1FD3MvDaUs7SFy. In May 2013, another 17.24 BTC were received and spent.

    The version with a fake account is indirectly confirmed by the fact that not all coins are from the sender’s walletwere sent to the account, presumably, of the Office for the Control of the Spread of Drugs. If the wallet were confiscated with the computer, then the authorities could transfer all the coins, but this did not happen here, so the wallet owner himself probably handed over 11.02 BTC to the front seller.

    The owners of the BTCBible.com service have already sent an official request for the disclosure of information about the incident to the Drug Enforcement Administration.

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