A crypto wallet tied to the defunct dark web marketplace Alphabay was reportedly behind the donation of $31 million worth of Bitcoin to Silk Road creator Ross Ulbricht, according to blockchain analysis.

Blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis told WIRED in a June 5 report that it had tied the 300 Bitcoin (BTC) donated to Ulbrich earlier this month to Alphabay, a predecessor to Silk Road that operated from 2014 to 2017.

Chainalysis suggested that the funds came from a major vendor on the platform who would have had access to such substantial amounts.

“We have reasonable grounds to suspect that these funds originated in AlphaBay,” Chainalysis director of investigations Phil Larratt said. “Looking at the amount, that would suggest they came from someone who was possibly a vendor on AlphaBay back in the early days.”

Independent blockchain sleuth ZachXBT confirmed that the 300 Bitcoin did not come from Silk Road and noted suspicious patterns in how the donor moved the funds.

They used multiple mixing services to obscure the transaction trail and cashed out other cryptocurrencies in small amounts to avoid detection, which he suggested indicated criminal origins.

ZachXBT said on X that the donation appears to come from a “sketchy centralized mixing service,” called Jambler, whereas normal privacy enthusiasts use decentralized mixers such as Wasabi and the now-defunct Samourai.

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The analysis suggested that the money was a “legitimate donation, but not legitimate funds,” ZachXBT told WIRED.

“Usage of multiple mixers, spreading out CEX [centralized exchange] deposits, etc, that is done typically if you are trying to avoid getting illicit funds frozen,” he said. 

Alphabay takedown on BTC links

Chainalysis was instrumental in the identification of AlphaBay-linked Bitcoin addresses, which played a key role in the takedown of the darknet marketplace in an investigation known as “Operation Bayonet” that spanned 2016 and 2017.

Any BTC held since then would have appreciated dramatically, potentially over 40-fold, but the identity of the donor and their motivation remain unknown. 

In January, US President Donald Trump fully pardoned Ross Ulbricht, who had been in prison for 12 years serving a double life sentence plus 40 years for running the Silk Road.

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