The $31 million Bitcoin donation that was recently received by infamous Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht has been traced to another darkweb marketplace called AlphaBay by blockchain sleuth Chainalysis, Wired reports.
As reported by U.Today, the mysterious transaction, which was first recorded on May 31, puzzled the cryptocurrency community, prompting various theories.
Some assumed that the mysterious donation came from Ulbricht’s own coins that had been allegedly stashed before his imprisonment.
However, Chainalysis believes that the funds actually came from the now-defunct successor of Silk Road, which was known as the “Amazon of the dark web.”
AlphaBay, which was launched in late 2014, emerged as the leading darknet marketplace with hundreds of thousands of users before it was eventually shut down in 2017 by law enforcement authorities. At its peak, it was 10 times bigger than Silk Road. The website was accepting various cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin and Monero. It relaunched in 2021 before eventually seizing operations less than two years later.
According to Chainalysis, he extremely generous donation likely came from a major player associated with AlphaBay, but their motive remains unclear.
Ulbricht was freed from prison in January after spending 12 years behind bars.
