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Alternative Market Briefing

Pirate’s arrest leads to Bitcoin collapse

Thursday, October 03, 2013

Beverly Chandler, Opalesque London:

Another week, another dollar. Close on the end of September announcement of the launch of a new fund from alternative specialists SecondMarket based on Bitcoin, comes the news that the virtual currency has collapsed following the shutdown of trading website Silk Road.

The Global Post piece on the launch of the fund gently warned that the New York Department of Financial Services had sent subpoenas to leading investors in Bitcoin in August, expressing concern that it could be used by drug traffickers and gun runners and threaten US national security. And yesterday, news came that the FBI had seized and shut down Silk Road, a website that allowed customers to operate outside the law using Bitcoin as its currency, dealing in drugs, arms and even hit men. As part of the bust, the government took 26,000 Bitcoins, or the equivalent of over $3m, from Silk Road. Its creator, Ross William Ulbricht, or Dread Pirate Roberts, was arrested. It is now estimated that the US government owns 0.22% of the currency.

Inevitably, following the news, Bitcoin's val......................

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