Mystery winner takes it all in US Marshals bit coin auction

02 Jul 2014

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Results of Friday's US Marshals bitcoin auction are in; but the winning bidder, who won all the blocks, remains elusive.

On Tuesday, spokeswoman Lynzey Donahu revealed that of the 45 registered bidders, each of whom deposited $200,000 prior to the auction, the near 30,000 bitcoins went to a single individual or entity. (See also: Winning bidders of US govt bitcoins auction not announced).

Though the result of the auction produced all round disappointment within the bitcoin community, given the level of interest the auction generated, the increasing attention shifting toward the world of digital currency is regarded as a positive development. According to Alan Silbert, founder of the online high-end bitcoin marketplace, BitPremier the near $20 million in bids that did not win, would simply be spent elsewhere throughout the bitcoin landscape.

Barry Silbert, founder and CEO of the Bitcoin Investment Trust (BIT), on Sunday, took to twitter to reveal that the trust and SecondMarket collectively had been outbid on every single block they bid. Following the announcement, Pantera Capital later revealed that they had been outbid too.

The auction, overall consisted of less than 30,000 bitcoins, all seized from the now-defunct illicit marketplace known as Silk Road. Initial results of the auction were also released on Monday, and Donahu announced that the 12-hour auction drew 63 total bids. However, in line with expectation, the exact dollar amount for which the bitcoins went for would not be revealed.

Meanwhile, CNET quoted Donahue as saying that the US Marshals Bitcoin auction resulted in one winning bidder. Donahue added that the transfer of the bitcoins to the winner was completed on Tuesday.

The Marshals office, however, withheld the amount of the winning bid, as also the identity of the winning bidder. However, according to commentators, what the fact that the likes of SecondMarket, Pantera Bitcoin, the Bitcoin Shop, Coinbase, Rangeley Capital, and CoinApex, the most important institutions within the Bitcoin community, were all outbid meant was that the winner was very serious, and had a lot of cash to throw around.

They say the winner might have even paid above the market price at the time of the auction, around $570 per Bitcoin. The winner(s) would, however, be still reaping a handsome profit, as Bitcoin had since shot up to $650, in large part due to the successful auction.

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