Tim Draper, a founding partner of the California venture fund DFJ, has become the owner of nearly 30,000 bitcoins worth a value of €14.3m.
US marshals in the FBI obtained the huge stash of bitcoins from the seizure of assets from the Silk Road illegal trading site.
Draper said he will work with the bitcoin exchange Vaurum, to use the new haul of cryptocurrency to add bitcoin liquidity to emerging markets.
The auction spanned 12 hours on 27 June, with interested parties required to make a lodgement of US$200,000 to a government bank.
In the firm’s official statement, Draper said, “Bitcoin frees people from trying to operate in a modern market economy with weak currencies.”
“With the help of Vaurum and this newly purchased bitcoin, we expect to be able to create new services that can provide liquidity and confidence to markets that have been hamstrung by weak currencies. We want to enable people to hold and trade bitcoin to secure themselves against weakening currencies.”
In the course of the auction, 45 bidders registered for the auction which received a total of 63 bids. The auction caused a spike in the US market, with the price jumping from US$570 per bitcoin at the start of the auction and ending at US$655 per coin by the time it finished, according to CNet.
Bitcoin image via Shutterstock
