Hundreds of long-inactive Bitcoin wallets tied to the original Silk Road marketplace suddenly came to life on Tuesday, December 9, 2025, transferring a combined 3,140 BTC to an unknown address.
The batch of transactions, valued at roughly $3.14 million at the time, marks one of the largest coordinated movements from these dormant addresses in recent years.
312 Inactive Wallets Send Bitcoin to a Single Address
Blockchain data shows that approximately 312 wallets associated with the defunct darknet marketplace initiated transfers to a single “bc1q” address. Many of these wallets had not recorded a transaction in more than a decade, making the synchronized activity highly unusual.
Despite the outflow, wallets linked to the Silk Road still hold around $41.3 million in Bitcoin. The identity of the recipient and the motivation behind the movement remain unknown.
A Familiar Pattern of Occasional Large Transfers
This is not the first time that major Silk Road-linked holdings have moved. Previous high-profile transfers include:
- •May 2025: Over $322.5 million shifted in a single series of transactions.
- •November 2020: Nearly $1 billion in BTC moved, triggering significant market discussion.
The U.S. government famously seized more than 100,000 BTC from Silk Road operations following its 2013 takedown. Ross Ulbricht, the marketplace’s founder, was convicted in 2015 before receiving a presidential pardon in January 2025. Given Ulbricht’s incarceration, it is considered highly unlikely that he played any role in the latest transaction.
Market Impact Expected to Be Minimal
Large movements of long-dormant Bitcoin often generate worries about potential selling pressure. However, in this case, the amount transferred represents a very small fraction of circulating BTC. Analysts do not expect the transaction to exert material influence on price action unless further activity follows.
For now, the reactivation of decade-old wallets adds another chapter to the ongoing mystery surrounding Silk Road-linked funds, a reminder of how much historical Bitcoin remains scattered across untouched addresses from the earliest years of the network.