This Guy Wants To Buy All The Silk Road Bitcoins Seized By The FBI

Brett Stapper is co-founder of Falcon Global Capital and is offering to buy all of the Bitcoins the FBI seized from the Silk Road, an estimated 27,000 Bitcoins that would be worth ~$14.8 million today.

Stapper has reached out to the US government on behalf of Falcon Global Capital with an offer to buy the Bitcoins. One estimate pegs the FBI as owning between 5% and 10% of all Bitcoins out there.

Stapper told Business Insider that "[the FBI has] not given us a yes or no yet. However, our lawyers are making calls daily to follow up on this. We have secured backing from a group of private investors to purchase all 27,000 Bitcoins for 15% below the daily value." (The FBI might be tempted by a below-market-value offer in return for the convenience of offloading them all at once.)

"We are young, hungry, and, eager to fill the gap between Wall Street and Bitcoin," said Stapper. "This is not your 'average' investment fund."

Here's the letter that he sent to the FBI and the US District Attorney in January:

To whom it may concern:

My name is Brett Stapper and I am the co-founder of Falcon Global Capital. We are a newly launched US based hedge fund that secures and holds Bitcoin investments for accredited investors.

I have followed the case of the Silk Road forfeiture since it occurred and recently read the update of the US government's intention to liquidate the investment. While it seems unknown which means you will liquidate the Bitcoins through, I wanted to contact you directly to find out more about the liquidation.

Our company, Falcon Global Capital, is prepared to offer 15% below market value for the purchase of the roughly 27,000 Bitcoins you are currently holding.

In order to progress with our offer, we would require a letter of intent and no more than 90 days to secure capital with our investors for the purchase.

If you are interested in discussing more in depth, I will gladly come to your offices or you can reach me directly by email at Brett@FalconGlobalCapital.com. If you were not interested or able to sell the Bitcoins directly, I would gladly consult [for] the US government, free of charge, on the best and most profitable ways to liquidate such a large amount of Bitcoins.

Falcon Global Capital bills itself as "the world's first Bitcoin investment fund with insured protection," storing investors' Bitcoins in "an insured Bitcoin vault." Stapper says, "We have a contract with [UK-based digital currency company] Elliptic stating they will hold all the fund's Bitcoin assets. These Bitcoins are stored in their Cold Storage security which is insured against all thefts and hacks. The funds are insured for daily value of the Bitcoins."

Let's be clear - Bitcoins are susceptible to theft. "Bitcoin insurance" that operates as described could be worthwhile depending on how you use the currency.