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Venture capitalist wins Silk Road Bitcoin auction

July 3, 2014

Venture capitalist Tim Draper revealed Wednesday that he won last week's US Marshalls auction of some 30,000 bitcoins the agency seized after it shut down Silk Road, an undergroud online marketplace that was notorious for selling illegal drugs. 

Vaurum, a Calif.-based Bitcoin trading and storage startup, announced Draper would partner with the firm to use the bitcoins to provide liquidity in emerging markets.

"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," Draper said in a statement.