Silk Road crypto activity is resurfacing as dormant Bitcoin wallets start moving again

• Wallets marked Silk Road distributed $3.14 million in Bitcoin across 176 transfers this week.
• The transactions represent the most significant Silk Road-related activity in five years.
• The wallets sent funds to a new address starting with bc1qn.

Cryptocurrency activity linked to Silk Road has resurfaced, drawing attention to long-silent Bitcoin wallets linked to the darknet market.

The move comes less than a year after US President Donald Trump granted Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht a full pardon.

While the pardon drew global attention to Ulbricht’s legal case, blockchain analysts are now tracking the renewed activity, which represents the highest level of transfers in years.

The latest move, recorded on Tuesday, raises new questions about dormant coin reserves tied to the market and how much Bitcoin is still undiscovered or untouched on older blockchain addresses.

Silk Road Wallets Show Renewed Bitcoin Flows

Silk Road tagged wallets transferred Arkham sea about $3.14 million in Bitcoin BTC $92,626. The activity included 176 transactions, making it the most significant relocation from these addresses in five years.

Earlier this year, the same wallets only conducted three small test transactions, suggesting that significant activity was paused.

This week’s transfers were sent to an unknown cryptocurrency wallet with the address prefix bc1qn.

The main wallets connected to Silk Road still contain about $38.4 million in Bitcoin.

The newly created address only contains the transferred $3.14 million.

Pardon puts focus back on historic Silk Road funds

Interest in the purses has increased since January, when Trump issued a full pardon to Ulbricht.

Before the pardon, Ulbricht was serving a double life sentence without parole for founding and operating Silk Road, which allowed the anonymous trading of illegal goods using Bitcoin.

The pardon also sparked new activity around the Free-Ross-Kampagne out of.

Backers have contributed approximately $270,000 in Bitcoin donations since the announcement, based on on-chain data.

Unseized Bitcoin linked to Ulbricht is attracting attention

In addition to the renewed transfers, conversations have shifted to older cryptocurrency holdings that are believed to be linked to Ulbricht but were never seized by authorities.

The US government previously has at least $3.36 billion in Bitcoin from Silk Road confiscated representing one of the largest recoveries in the history of digital asset enforcement.

Still, blockchain analysts tracking historical movements have identified additional reserves that have remained untapped.

Conor Grogan, director of the Coinbase exchange, highlighted that 430 BTC, worth about $47 million, have not been traded in more than 13 years.

These tokens are held in wallets believed to be linked to Ulbricht.

Dormant Bitcoin wallets remain a key issue

Another wallet marked Silk Road, likely controlled by Ulbricht, contains about $8.3 million in Bitcoin.

This wallet has only conducted three small test transactions in the last 10 months and has otherwise been inactive for 14 years, Arkham said.

The transfers observed this week have therefore refocused attention on dormant Bitcoin reserves, which could contain significant amounts.

Experts who monitor historical blockchain activity note that movements of older darknet-linked wallets often spark speculation about ownership, recovery efforts, or changes in operational control.

The recent activity does not explain why these wallets were implemented again or who controls the receiving address.

However, the timing, extended periods of inactivity and the historical significance of the addresses have made the transfers notable within the crypto community.

As blockchain analysis tools improve and historical data becomes more searchable, renewed activity from legacy darknet sources continues to shape conversations about unconfiscated assets and the long-term movement patterns of early Bitcoin holdings.