Hundreds of Bitcoin wallets tied to the defunct SilkRoad darknet marketplace have suddenly reactivated, sending about $3.14 millionin BTC to a newly created address in their largest move in years. Blockchain data provider Arkham reports that thetransfers came from a cluster of long-dormant wallets and landed in a Bech32address starting with “bc1q,” whose owner remains unknown.The transfers mark a sharp break with the pattern ofnear-total inactivity that has defined these addresses for the past decade.Only a handful of minor “test” transactions had gone out from Silk Road-taggedwallets this year before this week’s sudden burst of on-chain activity.Inside the $3.14M Bitcoin shiftArkham’s dashboards show that roughly 300 SilkRoad-linked addresses combined their balances in a coordinated series of 100‑plustransactions. Together, they pushed around $3.14 million in Bitcoin to a singledestination address, suggesting clear intent to consolidate funds rather thandisperse them.Despite the fresh movements, most of the taggedholdings remain unmoved. Arkham estimates that Silk Road-associated walletsstill control roughly $38–41 million in Bitcoin, while the newly createdaddress holds only the amount received in this latest batch of transfers.The renewed wallet activity follows the political andlegal drama around Ross Ulbricht, who created and operated Silk Road until hisarrest and conviction in 2015. Ulbricht received two life sentences plus additionalyears for running a marketplace that enabled anonymous trade in illegal drugsand other illicit goods using Bitcoin as the medium of exchange.In January 2025, President Donald Trump grantedUlbricht a full and unconditional pardon, ending his life sentence after morethan a decade behind bars. The decision energized Ulbricht’s supporters andtriggered renewed scrutiny of the remaining Silk Road-linked coins, some ofwhich the US government had already seized and auctioned in earlier enforcementactions.Billions seized, but millions unaccountedAuthorities have previously confiscated large tranchesof Bitcoin tied to Silk Road, including tens of thousands of coins that laterwent to auction under government control. One US government-controlled walletidentified by Arkham holds tens of thousands of BTC from Silk Road seizures,underscoring the scale of the original marketplace’s crypto footprint.At current prices, those coins would be worth roughly$47 million, sitting alongside other tagged wallets that hold several milliondollars more but have seen almost no recent movement apart from a few tiny testtransactions. The latest $3.14 million transfer is small relative toboth the historical Silk Road stash and Bitcoin’s daily trading volume, so itdoes not pose immediate market risk on its own. However, any sign that muchlarger Silk Road-linked balances might move could quickly capture traderattention, especially if on-chain data points to potential exchange deposits.This article was written by Jared Kirui at www.financemagnates.com.