http://nypost.com/2013/12/23/government-robbed-me-of-33m-in-bitcoins-silk-road-pirate/They're talking about the actual escrow coins from the Silk Road server's operational account. Not the 600,000 BTC seized on his laptop. Not sure what the story is with those ones.
Perhaps he's using the smaller account as a test of the legal process, so as not to jeopardize the other 600,000? Then will employ plausible deniability when he loses that asset forfeiture case (the feds already have the BTC since that account was left in an open state on the physical server), so as not to be compelled to turn over the password to those 600,000 locked BTC?
Intellectual aside, let's say he had inventive source code on his Silk Road server that he wanted returned. Asset forfeiture covers all sorts of property, not just money. It has covered internet domains, but I'm not sure it has ever covered an actual instance of copyrightable intellectual property that represents technological inventiveness. Could source code be forfeited?
Bitcoins, being essentially a piece of unique software with value, certainly fall in a unique place in regards to asset forfeiture. I'm looking forward to watching how this issue progresses.
My guess is that DPR just wants a ruling on the BTC status, for the ancap community to be able to deliberately sabotage. Then when the ruling comes down to fork over the 600k BTC, he can refuse and show the real strength of the currency.
