Last summer, news that federal agents had seized a combined $5M from accounts owned by Mt. Gox roiled bitcoin markets. The warrants enabling the action cited improper filings when the company opened its bank accounts, including unlicensed operation of a money service business. Yet, written testimonies from federal regulators for the recent Senate hearings on digital currencies indicate the seizures were actually part of the much larger crackdown on online narcotics marketplace Silk Road – insight that presumably had to remain hidden at the time of the seizures due to the ongoing investigation. Experienced market participants will recall that before and during bitcoin’s meteoric rise in popularity through April 2013, Mt. Gox dominated the exchange landscape with upwards of 70% of global trade volume. News broke the following month that the Department of Homeland Security had executed a seizure warrant for Mt. Gox’s US bank accounts based on the company’s failure to register as a money service business or appropriately indicate activity as an MSB on their bank applications. Prevailing...