Last week, 300 Bitcoins, valued around $31 million, were transferred to Ross Ulbricht's public donation address, reigniting speculation about hidden Silk Road funds. However, blockchain forensic investigations by Chainalysis revealed the coins originated not from Ulbricht’s Silk Road era but from AlphaBay, a defunct dark web marketplace that operated between 2014 and 2017.
The transaction was traced to Bitcoin addresses linked to AlphaBay vendors active during its peak. The donor appears to be a major vendor and used multiple mixing services, including Jambler – a centralized and less-trusted Bitcoin tumbler – to obfuscate the trail, indicating an effort to launder illicit proceeds rather than a straightforward donation.
AlphaBay was dismantled in 2017 during Operation Bayonet, with its operator dying in custody under contested circumstances and its second-in-command remaining unidentified. Chainalysis shared its findings with law enforcement but did not disclose proprietary clustering methods.
Ross Ulbricht, who was released after a presidential pardon granted in January 2025, has not commented on the origins of the donation. While the donation itself may be legitimate, its illicit provenance could attract renewed attention from financial crime regulators. The enigmatic gift has been speculated to stem from motivations like gratitude, remorse, or survivor's guilt in the dark web ecosystem Ulbricht pioneered.