Via @casiotone on Twitter, the US Drug Enforcement Administration – the government agency which is in charge of dealing with federal anti-narcotic policy – has seized just over 11 Bitcoins, worth $814.22, from a suspect in South Carolina. In a notification posted Monday morning, the agency reports:
DISTRICT OF SOUTH CAROLINA
13-DEA-581051, 11.02 Bitcoins, Acct.#1ETDwGUC1QcjYuehFr3u1FD3MvDaUs7SFy,
VL: $814.22 which was seized in Charleston, SC from Eric Daniel Hughes AKA Casey Jones on April 12, 2013
Due to the public nature of Bitcoin transactions, we can actually see the path of the 11.02 Bitcoins, which entered the account address the DEA gives on 12 April, and were then transferred out five days later. It’s fairly easy to speculate that the transfer in would have prompted the DEA’s swoop and “seizure”, and that the five-day delay is the organisation trying to work out how to transfer the money back out.
Regardless of the backstory, it’s a remarkable example of how a decentralised, secure infrastructure only goes so far. It may be harder to link Bitcoins to their owners, harder to control their flow, and easier to hide them; but the currency isn’t entirely above the law.
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