Empire Market founder forfeits 1,230 bitcoin worth $101m

A federal court in Chicago sentenced Raheim Hamilton to 40 years on 5 October and fined him $5m. He forfeits 1,230 bitcoin, valued at about $101m, along with 24.4 ether worth roughly $60,000 and three properties. Hamilton co-created Empire Market with Thomas Pavey.

“Blockchain analysis traced the funds, and the 1,230 bitcoin will move through standard government forfeiture processes”

— CoinDesk, 9 октября 2026

The market behind the number

Empire Market ran from 2018 to 2020 and carried more than 4 million drug transactions. Drug sales came to roughly $375m of over $430m in total activity, which is 87%. The rest was stolen account credentials, personal data, counterfeit currency and hacking tools.

Four million transactions across about two years works out at 5,500 a day, and $375m across 4 million transactions averages $94 each. Those are retail-sized orders.

The coins appreciated while the case ran

$101m against 1,230 coins values them at $82,114 each, close to where bitcoin trades now. Empire Market shut in August 2020, when bitcoin traded near $11,500, and the same 1,230 coins were worth about $14.1m then.

The dollar figure in the judgment reflects today's price rather than the value of what changed hands at the time. Whatever the seizure date, the asset grew by roughly seven times while the prosecution proceeded.

Where 1,230 coins go next

A bitcoin forfeiture of this size does not end at the courtroom door. Executive order 14233, signed 6 March 2025, directs forfeited bitcoin into the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve, which is supposed to hold rather than sell. These coins are a deposit into it.

Two days ago more than 12,000 BTC left US government addresses in a single stretch, and on 7 October we counted 833.599 BTC going from those wallets to Coinbase Prime. The reserve is receiving 1,230 coins this week and sending out roughly ten times that. Both facts sit on the chain, and neither has an official explanation attached.

1,230 coins in proportion

1,230 BTC is 2.7 days of mining issuance at the current subsidy. Against the roughly $27.5bn of seized crypto the US government holds, $101m is 0.37%.

Against all of that, the 40-year sentence is the figure that does not move with the market. Pavey, named as the other co-creator, is part of the same prosecution, and his sentencing has not been reported alongside this one.

Informational material, not investment advice. Valuations of the forfeited coins follow the market price and change with it.