David Edwards
Ross Ulbricht, the founder of the defunct Silk Road darknet marketplace, recently received a 300 Bitcoin donation valued at approximately $31.4 million. While the origins of these funds remain unclear, blockchain researcher ZachXBT has cast doubt on theories suggesting Ulbricht may have donated the funds to himself.
On June 1, the blockchain analytics company Lookonchain announced the gift, pointing out that the Bitcoin came from addresses that used the centralized cryptocurrency mixing service Jambler. This has sparked unsubstantiated rumors on social media that the money might be proceeds from the Silk Road that Ulbricht supposedly hid before being arrested.
In a statement released on June 2, ZachXBT, however, rejected such claims, highlighting the fact that only a small number of companies utilize Jambler extensively. In addition, he discovered what seems to be a “demix”—a potential trace back through the mixer—which would indicate that the gift came from outside. “It likely doesn’t appear to be a self-donation,” he wrote, although he acknowledged the questionable provenance of the funds due to a flagged source address.
ZachXBT claims that privacy-conscious users, who often choose decentralized mixers, are not likely to use Jambler. He drew attention to the fact that one of the addresses in question had exchange activity going back to 2014, while another had been marked in compliance databases as dormant since 2019. Between April and May 2025, when the donation was made, these addresses started sending Bitcoin through Jambler.
Responding to widespread speculation, ZachXBT noted, “Everyone was accusing Ross of a self-donation, so if anything, this proves it was a donation and not his secret stash because there was activity when he was away in prison.”
After being given a double life sentence plus 40 years in 2015, Ulbricht was freed in January 2025 after former US President Donald Trump pardoned him. His financial situation and surviving digital assets have received more attention after his release.
Conor Grogan, the director of Coinbase, discovered more than 430 Bitcoin in long-dormant wallets he connected to Ulbricht in January. These wallets are currently worth over $45 million. The results were validated by blockchain intelligence company Arkham, which linked 14 addresses—including one wallet holding more than $9 million in Bitcoin—to Silk Road.
