The US Marshals Service (USMS) has announced it will sell 44,341 BTC (worth approximately $10.6m at press time) in an online auction due to take place on 5th November.To be held from 12:00 UTC to 18:00 UTC, the six-hour auction, open only to pre-registered bidders, represents the final sale of bitcoins in connection with civil forfeiture actions taken against convicted Silk Road mastermind Ross Ulbricht.The bitcoins will be sold in 21 blocks of 2,000 bitcoins, with the remaining 2,341 BTC to be sold in a separate block.Winners, the agency said, will be notified on 6th November.The agency continued: "The registration period starts 19th October and runs until noon 2nd November, at which time potential bidders must have completed all registration requirements.Registration documents that were submitted for the Marshals’ previous bitcoin auctions are not valid for this auction; interested bidders must submit new registration documents to be considered for this auction."The announcement comes one month after the USMS revealed to CoinDesk that it was likely to set a date for its final auction of the assets before the year's end.

In total, the USMS seized more than 144,000 BTC (then worth $122m) from Ulbricht in late 2013.The majority of the holdings – 100,000 BTC – have since been liquidated by the agency in two public auctions.most secure bitcoin wallet 2015Marshalls said they're putting 44,341 bitcoins on the block.bitcoin price graph 2014That amount of electronic currency is currently worth more than $10.7 million.bitcoin paper wallet guideThis is the last treasure trove of bitcoins seized from the now-defunct website Silk Road, which the FBI shut down in 2013.bitcoin wallet tabletIn total, the FBI confiscated about $33.6 million in bitcoins as it seized all assets of Silk Road.litecoin on coinbase

The bitcoins were taken from computer hardware possessed by Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht.Silk Road was a black market for drugs, including cocaine, LSD and heroin, as well as illegal services like hacking tutorials.typical litecoin mining rateIt had a certain appeal for drug dealers because they thought they were anonymous and their activities unable to be traced.bitcoin maker scamBut they were wrong.bitcoin ou acheterUlbricht, who called himself the Dread Pirate Roberts, was found guilty earlier this year on seven federal counts, ranging from money laundering to drug dealing.silk road bitcoin buyHe was sentenced to life in prison.The seized bitcoins will be sold by the U.S.Marshalls on November 5 in 22 separate blocks from 8 a.m.

Registration begins on October 19 and ends on November 2.The US Marshals Service (USMS) has begun its auction of 44,341 BTC seized from convicted Silk Road operator Ross Ulbricht, marking the final sale in a process that began in June 2014.The tranche constitutes the remainder of as much as 144,000 BTC seized from Ulbricht, who ran the Silk Road dark marketplace under the pseudonym Dread Pirate Roberts.Ulricht was sentenced to life in prison in May, though he is appealing the verdict.Today's auction, the fourth held by the agency since it auctioned 30,000 BTC in June 2014, is running from 8am to 2pm local time.According to the USMS, the event features 22 auction blocks.The first 21 blocks will each consist of 2,000 BTC up for sale, with the final tranche consisting of approximately 2,341 BTC.Registration for the auction began on 19th October and ran through 12 pm EDT on 2nd November.Confirmed participants include the Digital Currency Group subsidiary Genesis Trading and bitcoin hedge fund Binary Financial.

With the conclusion of the sale, all funds confiscated and held during the Silk Road investigation will have been sold by the US government.Bitcoins seized from Silk Road users, as well as the market itself, have been sold in the past as well.Bitcoin appears to be moving from a seized wallet to the Shadow Brokers auction, raising suspicions that the US government is potentially bidding to prevent stolen NSA exploits and tools from ending up in the wrong hands -- again.Last week, a group calling itself the "Shadow Brokers" offered up what it claimed to be a treasure trove of exploits, software, and tools used by the US National Security Agency (NSA)'s Equation Group to the highest bidder.The Equation Group, considered one of the most sophisticated and dangerous teams in existence, uses a variety of sophisticated tools and zero-day vulnerabilities to spy on targets and compromise PCs without being detected.The Shadow Brokers sent out an open invitation to interested bidders, providing a small "sample" of the resources on offer.

The auction was viewed with doubt as no one had heard of the cyberattack group, and without access to the full cache, there was little proof that the claims were nothing more than a hoax.However, newly released documents leaked by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden appear to show the leak is legitimate.In addition, Cisco and Fortinet have both confirmed their products are affected by the malware and the firms' security teams are already on task to patch vulnerable software.At the same time as these revelations, security researcher krypt3ia revealed the results of an interesting investigation into how the auction is allegedly going.Late last week, krypt3ia said in a blog post that while the Shadow Brokers' auction has generated marginal interest and some payments, a portion of the proceeds appears to be becoming from the Silk Road Bitcoin wallet, which was seized by the FBI after the underground marketplace was closed down in 2013."So,is this to say that these coins are still in the coffers of the feds and they are being sent to ShadowBrokers to chum the water here?," krypt3ia claimed.

"Maybe get a conversation going?Maybe to get the bitcoins flying so others can trace some taint?Of course once you start to look at that address and the coins in and out there you get some other interesting hits.Suddenly you are seeing US Marshall service as well being in that loop."See also: Is blockchain revolutionary, or just another infrastructure support technology?It could be that the US government is testing the waters and participating in order to try and trace anyone interested in purchasing the cache -- or to buy it themselves as part of damage limitation.Whatever the reason, these kinds of payments have not revealed why a slice of the confiscated Silk Road Bitcoin is being used -- nor by who.While the Shadow Brokers' dreams of raising one million Bitcoins -- the equivalent of $580,630,000 -- is unlikely, confirmation of the sample's validity and the US government's reported interest may raise the value of future bids.Update 14.19 GMT: Bitcoin experts have raised questions over the validity of krypt3ia's claims.According to Jonathan Levin, CRO and co-founder of Bitcoin investigation company Chain Analysis, the issue is not clear-cut -- and may not exist at all.