The U.S. Division of Justice (DOJ) has seized 50,000 Bitcoin from the hacker who stole from the gruesome dark internet marketplace, Silk Road. It is miles the second-ultimate seizure ever within the executive’s history.

On Nov. 7, the DOJ announced it had convicted hacker James Zhong for wire fraud he dedicated at Silk Road over a decade ago.

Zhong defrauded Silk Road – the now-defunct dark internet marketplace that operated from 2011 to 2013. In September 2012, Zhong manipulated Silk Road’s withdrawal processing gadget into depositing 50,000 BTC to exterior wallets he managed.

Federal authorities seized 50,676 Bitcoin from Zhong’s characteristic in Georgia final November. On the time, the price of the coins amounted to $3.36 billion and marked the “ultimate cryptocurrency seizure” within the DOJ’s history. As of late, the price of the seized Bitcoin is price spherical $1.04 billion.

DOJ stated enforcement companies uncovered the cryptocurrency  from Zhong’s  underground ground secure and a single-board computer “submerged below blankets in a popcorn tin saved in a loo closet.”

The DOJ moreover found that Zhong owned an further 50,000 Bitcoin Cash (BCH) after Bitcoin’s traumatic fork in 2017. He later exchanged the entirety of his BCH holdings for 3,500 more BTC.

“This case presentations that we won’t halt following the cash, no topic how expertly hidden, even to a circuit board within the bottom of a popcorn tin,” stated U.S. Felony legitimate Damian Williams in an announcement.

Zhong pleaded responsible to the prices on Nov. 4 sooner than a District Prefer in New York. The maximum sentence related alongside with his crime is Two decades in penal advanced.

Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht is serving his 10th year in penal advanced  below a double lifestyles sentence without parole for working the internet internet page.