Silk Road Bitcoin Forfeiture, Token Airdrops, and Celsius Moves $1B in Ethereum

OMG NEWS OF THE DAY

U.S. to Sell $117 Million in Bitcoin Seized From Silk Road Drug Trafficker

The United States has unveiled plans to auction around $117 million worth of Bitcoin confiscated from a convicted drug trafficker linked to the notorious Silk Road dark web marketplace. Ryan Farace, previously convicted for drug-related charges, was sentenced earlier this month.

According to their guilty pleas and other court documents, in November 2018, Ryan Farace was convicted in U.S. District Court in Maryland for a scheme to manufacture and distribute [Xanax] in exchange for Bitcoin through sales on darknet marketplaces.

Source: Department of Justice Press Release

The government aims to “dispose” of the seized Bitcoin, totaling over 2,933 BTC, with a value of about $117 million today. Farace, operating under the alias Xanaxman, had earned over 9,138 Bitcoin, valued at approximately $364 million, for illegal transactions.

US FILES NOTICE TO SELL $130M OF BITCOIN SEIZED FROM SILK ROAD AGENT

Source: DB | Coins: BTC

— db (@tier10k) January 25, 2024

Airdrop Season: Protocols Offer $700M in Token Airdrops Over a Week

In the crypto space, it’s a season of airdrops, with AltLayer leading the way by initiating a $100 million token airdrop. The Ethereum scaling solution distributed 300 million ALT tokens at an average daily price of $0.32.

📢Update: $ALT Airdrop Claims have now opened as of 9:00 AM UTC. https://t.co/LpfHsHu4Gk

Those eligible for AltLayer Airdrop Season One – please visit the official airdrop website to claim your $ALT!

Rest assured you will have one month to claim your $ALT tokens. https://t.co/zSYJw8gGt4

— AltLayer (@alt_layer) January 25, 2024

Dymension and Jupiter are set to follow suit with airdrops worth $210 million and $410 million, respectively. Crypto users are advised to exercise caution amid increasing scam attempts on platforms like X.

Introducing Runestone

Symbol: ᛤ

Mission: Create a fair, open source, transparent, volunteer, and decentralized initiative to reward people who participated in the first year of the Ordinals Protocol.

Snapshot: Block height 826,600

Discord: https://t.co/jNJbWs2YEp pic.twitter.com/EiIJRSCDOb

— Leonidas (@LeonidasNFT) January 25, 2024

Celsius Moves a Massive $1B in Ethereum to CEXs: Repayments Incoming?

Celsius, a bankrupt crypto lending platform, recently shifted a significant amount—443,961 ETH, valued at $984 million—to centralized exchanges. Speculations arise about potential repayments to creditors starting in mid-February.

🎯 Celsius is aiming for an Effective Date of January 31st.

🗓️ We expect the distribution of liquid crypto to Earn Creditors to start in mid-February.

⏳ The distribution window will be open for one year. pic.twitter.com/TznON0ddBV

— Ionic Digital Community (ex-Celsius) (@IonicDigitalX) January 25, 2024

Celsius has been strategically moving assets to ensure liquidity and timely distributions to creditors. ETH prices have remained stable, but the crypto community anticipates developments as the distribution window approaches.

🚨 🚨 🚨 🚨 🚨 🚨 🚨 🚨 🚨 🚨 443,961 #ETH (982,202,866 USD) transferred from #Celsius to unknown wallethttps://t.co/39EY8uFFqa

— Whale Alert (@whale_alert) January 25, 2024

TWEETS OF THE DAY

Update for day 10 of the #Bitcoin ETF Cointucky derby. Volumes and flows are both slowing down a bit. Another slight negative day on flows. Total net flows stand at +$744 million. $IBIT likely crosses 2 billion in assets today pic.twitter.com/apSLYRT6Vp

— James Seyffart (@JSeyff) January 26, 2024

The only thing you can shill and low FDV is meme coins.

— Elja (@Eljaboom) January 26, 2024

AI NEWS: A new device called Morpheus-1 was revealed to help humans control lucid dreaming.

Plus, huge developments from Meta, KitKat, OpenAI, and 6 new tools.

Here's everything you need to know:

— Rowan Cheung (@rowancheung) January 26, 2024

🎉Join zkLink on @BitgetWallet 's Task2Get party to split the price pool of 200,000 $ZKL🎉

🗓️ Event Duration: Starts from January 29th, 17:00 (UTC+8)
🎁 NFT Rewards: Complete tasks every 5 days for a chance to earn and trade NFTs of varying tiers.

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— zkLink (@zkLink_Official) January 26, 2024

FTC launches inquiry into AI deals https://t.co/YXgEzFDTAU

— TIME (@TIME) January 26, 2024

1/ The next global online @SolanaFndn hackathon, powered by @ColosseumOrg, is coming Mar. 4th, 2024.https://t.co/p6wUM3CBdR

Learn more about Colosseum, sign up for updates, and get ready to build 🧵 https://t.co/4rVfLvqEa3

— Solana (@solana) January 25, 2024

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