A recent report by Chainalysis revealed that a $31 million Bitcoin donation to Ross Ulbricht, the founder of the online black market Silk Road, is linked to Alphabay, a dark web marketplace that operated from 2014 to 2017. The donation, amounting to 300 Bitcoins, is suspected to have originated from a vendor active on Alphabay. Chainalysis director Phil Larratt noted that the significant amount of Bitcoin suggests it likely came from someone with substantial access to funds on the platform. Independent blockchain investigator ZachXBT confirmed that the Bitcoin did not derive from Silk Road and highlighted dubious patterns in how the donation was structured, including the use of multiple mixing services to disguise the transaction trail. He indicated that the donation appears to stem from a centralized mixing service, as opposed to typical decentralized mixers. Despite the legitimacy of the donation, the funds are viewed as having criminal origins. President Donald Trump had previously advocated for Ulbricht, who is serving a double life sentence at 12 years in prison.

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