The U.S. Department of Justice announced on Monday that it seized around $3.3 billion in Bitcoin from a hacker who stole the cryptocurrency from the Silk Road dark web internet marketplace in September 2012. The hacker, identified as James Zhong, pled guilty before a New York City court to committing wire fraud and stealing 50,676 Bitcoin from Silk Road. Silk Road was an online “darknet” black market. In operation from approximately 2011 until 2013, Silk Road was used by drug dealers and other unlawful vendors to distribute illegal drugs and other illicit goods and services to buyers and to launder all funds passing through it. The Accused Tricked the Marketplace To Sending Him Large Quantities Of Bitcoin Through a variety of fictitious accounts, Zhong was able to trick the Silk Road payment processor into sending him Bitcoin. The Justice Department stated that on Nov. 9, 2021, a search of Zhong’s house led to the recovery of 51,680.32473733 Bitcoin; Zhong’s 80% interest in RE&D ...