U.S. feds forget to seize $400k in Bitcoin forks

CRYPTONAIRE LYWEEK

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U.S. feds forget to seize $400k in Bitcoin forks

Crypto research firm Coinfirm has found that US authorities have left “substantial funds” left on various cryptocurrency wallets seized from criminals over the years, as a result of multiple “forks” that issued newer cryptocurrencies that traded on public markets.

The firm traced a majority of such funds back to a Silk Road wallet seized by the United States Department of Justice earlier this month. The regulator announced it had picked up over $1 billion belonging to the now-defunct darknet marketplace at the time, but no information about the forked funds was provided.

In addition, Coinfirm said that the wallet’s owners (now in the custody of the government) might still have access to the forked funds — collectively worth millions of dollars at their peak and a little under $400,000 today.

Don’t overlook Bitcoin forks

As per a blog post, Coinfirm’s self-funded investigation found that various Bitcoin forks — Bitcoin Diamond (BCD), Super Bitcoin (SBTC), and Bitcoin Private (BTCP) — were among the forked assets that the U.S. government “seemingly overlooked and left in the hands of whoever has access to the private keys of the main wallet.”

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