$31M Ross Ulbricht BTC donation traced to Silk Road's dark web successor, Alphabay

A $31 million Bitcoin donation made to Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht is believed to have originated from AlphaBay. This notorious dark web market succeeded Silk Road and once dwarfed it in scale. Blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis revealed on June 5 that the 300 Bitcoin donation is likely linked to funds circulating within AlphaBay between 2016 and 2017.

Chainalysis director of investigations Phil Larratt told WIRED that the amount and origin of the donation may have come from an AlphaBay vendor. 

“We have reasonable grounds to suspect that these funds originated in AlphaBay,” said Larratt, a former UK National Crime Agency official. “Looking at the amount, that would suggest they came from someone who was possibly a vendor on AlphaBay back in the early days.”

AlphaBay was a dark marketplace that operated on the encrypted Tor network from 2014 to 2017, allowing vendors to sell illegal drugs, stolen data, hacking tools, and other contraband. 

According to the FBI, at its peak, the platform was reportedly 10 times larger than Silk Road, the site Ulbricht launched in 2011. where drug dealers made anonymous online transactions using crypto.

According to Europol, the 2014-founded marketplace hosted more than 250,000 product listings and supported 40,000 vendors, serving approximately 200,000 members before its shutdown in mid-2017.

Ulbricht donation traced to AlphaBay

Chainalysis’ forensic analysis matched on-chain activity to known AlphaBay patterns, which showed the donor used several Bitcoin mixers, including Jambler, to obscure the flow of funds. 

In a June 2 post on X, crypto security sleuth ZachXBT published his own analysis, concluding the funds were not a “self-donation” from Silk Road. He traced the transactions to a wallet previously flagged by Chainalysis’ Reactor tool as connected to illicit activity.

Update: Few entities regularly use Jambler in size so I found a potential demix for the donation. 1Mp5hH originates from late 2014 exchange activity. 1CNDW has 2019 exchange activity and was previously flagged in compliance tools.

1Mp5hH & 1CNDW were depositing in size to…

— ZachXBT (@zachxbt) June 2, 2025

“The money was a legitimate donation but not legitimate funds,” ZachXBT told WIRED via text. He claimed the transaction train was common among criminals, trying to avoid detection by withdrawing funds through centralized exchanges (CEXs) in small, distributed amounts. 

“Usage of multiple mixers, spreading out CEX deposits, etc. That is done typically if you are trying to avoid getting illicit funds frozen,” he added.

Mystery behind the donation

The rationale behind the $31 million Bitcoin donation to Ulbricht is unclear. Ulbricht was released through a presidential pardon in January after serving 12 years of his double life sentence. He had been convicted in 2015 on charges including conspiracy to commit money laundering, computer hacking, and trafficking narcotics.

On social media, some believe it could be a repayment or act of solidarity from another dark web actor. Others, including Taylor Monahan, a crypto security researcher at MetaMask, believe it may be a gesture appreciating Ulbricht for his campaign in anonymous online commerce.

“People donate when they’re deeply inspired by someone and/or grateful and/or have some sort of remorse for the situation,” said Monahan. “Survivor’s guilt is wild.”

During Ross Ulbricht’s trial, federal prosecutors alleged that Silk Road facilitated more than $200 million worth of drug sales through its hidden services on the dark web. They also accused him of soliciting six murders-for-hire, including one targeting a former employee of the site. However, prosecutors later admitted that no killings were ever confirmed to have occurred.

“The scum that worked to convict him were some of the same lunatics who were involved in the modern day weaponisation of government against me,” President Trump wrote on Truth Social after signing Ulbricht’s pardon. “He was given two life sentences, plus 40 years. Ridiculous!”

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