The recent $31 million Bitcoin donation to Ross Ulbricht, the once-imprisoned founder of Silk Road, has stunned the crypto world. Investigators now say the funds are likely tied to Alphabay, another infamous dark web marketplace, reviving concerns over illicit crypto flows.
According to a June 5 report by WIRED, blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis traced the donation—over 300 BTC—to a wallet associated with Alphabay. The firm suspects the sender may have been a former Alphabay vendor, although their identity remains unknown.
Phil Larratt, Director at Chainalysis, noted that the funds were likely moved through crypto mixing services to obscure their origin before reaching Ulbricht’s donation address.
Independent blockchain investigator ZachXBT supported these claims, highlighting the use of common obfuscation tactics:
One of the mixing tools used in this case was identified as Jambler, a centralized crypto mixer known for helping disguise illicit fund trails.
Alphabay gained notoriety as the largest darknet market following Silk Road’s shutdown in 2013. It was taken down during Operation Bayonet in 2017, a coordinated global effort involving law enforcement agencies and blockchain experts, including Chainalysis.
Both Alphabay and Silk Road were known for enabling illegal activities such as drug sales and money laundering using cryptocurrency, especially Bitcoin.
Ross Ulbricht, creator of Silk Road, was convicted in 2015 and sentenced to double life imprisonment plus 40 years. However, in a dramatic turn of events, he was pardoned by former U.S. President Donald Trump on January 21, 2025.
The recent Bitcoin donation suggests that Ulbricht still commands support from darknet-linked actors, despite being behind bars for nearly a decade.
The incident underscores the ongoing cat-and-mouse game between law enforcement and darknet-linked crypto actors. It also highlights the persistent challenges of tracing illicit crypto transactions, especially with the rise of mixing services and privacy tools.
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