> But my understanding is that a judge can't just seize the wallet -- you'd need their private key. Anyone know what happened from a technical standpoint?
The affidavit [0] supporting the warrant details the flow of Bitcoin between various addresses and notes that the FBI has the private key of the address targeted for seizure, but doesn’t explain how they got the private key.
That's an interesting theory and would make sense as a defusing move (whether or not they had an ongoing relationship with DarkSide), but is there any support for this or is it speculation?
The affidavit [0] supporting the warrant details the flow of Bitcoin between various addresses and notes that the FBI has the private key of the address targeted for seizure, but doesn’t explain how they got the private key.
[0] linked, along with the warrant and other docs, from the DoJ press release: https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/department-justice-seizes-23-...