PANews reported on January 9 that according to DB News, a US official confirmed that a federal judge ruled on December 30 that the Department of Justice could sell 69,370 bitcoins seized from the Silk Road dark web market. After Battle Born Investments failed in its attempt to postpone the sale, the years-long dispute over the ownership of the seized bitcoins has finally come to an end. The group had claimed that the bitcoins belonged to its bankruptcy estate and lost a recent Freedom of Information Act case.
Battle Born's lawyers called it "another egregious example of the Department of Justice abusing the civil asset forfeiture process," and claimed the government "relies on procedural subterfuge to ensure the facts are never known." The Justice Department cited Bitcoin's price volatility in its fight for permission to sell the assets. When asked about next steps, a Justice Department spokesperson said: "The government will proceed with the ruling in this case." Currently, the seized Bitcoin is worth about $6.5 billion.
