Ulbricht claims the bitcoins were not funded by criminality

Auction hunters have to lodge a deposit of $100,000 before they can bid

US Marshals are planning to sell off Ross Ulbricht's bitcoin fortune which is worth around $11million

The US Marshals will auction Ross Ulbricht's $11million bitcoin fortune that they discovered hidden on a computer hard drive during a raid on his home.

The 32-year-old criminal created the Silk Road website on the dark web which facilitated more than $200 million of anonymous online drug dealing all paid with the digital currency bitcoin.

Ulbricht was jailed for life earlier this year for his role in creating the website. As part of his sentencing, he agreed to surrender his bitcoin fortune and allow it to be auctioned.

In total 44,341.55308401 bitcoins will be auctioned between October 19 and November 2.

One bitcoin is worth in the region of $250 although the value of the currency is constantly changing. In late 2013 each bitcoin was worth almost $1,000.

Anyone bidding for part of Ulbricht's bitcoin fortune is asked to lodge a deposit of $100,000 beforehand.

The bitcoins were seized by authorities on October 24, 2013. Shortly after they were seized, the bitcoins increased in value to almost $1,000 each.

According to court documents, the bitcoins are 'property involved in money laundering and attempted money laundering.

Ulbricht claims that he did not acquire the bitcoins by illegal means and insists that he is the legal owner.

Since they were seized, the bitcoins have lost almost three-quarters of their value.

According to court documents, Ulbricht, also known as 'Dread Pirate Roberts'; 'DPR' and 'Silk Road' has managed to secure an order which allows the US Marshals service to sell the bitcoins, but the proceeds must be held in an account until ownership can be determined.

Speaking at the time of his sentencing in May, Ulbricht claimed: 'I wanted to empower people to make choices in their lives and have privacy and anonymity.'

However, he recognised he had ruined is life by breaking the law, even if he disagreed with it

'I wish I could go back to convince myself and take a different path,' he said. 'But I can't do that.'

Ulbricht, pictured, was found guilty of running the dark web Silk Road drug dealing site and jailed for life

Prosecutors claimed that the Silk Road facilitated some one million drug deals worth in excess of $183 million

Federal authorities closed down Silk Road and seized all of Ulbricht's assets including 44,000 bitcoins

U.S. District Judge Katherine Forrest told Ulbricht that he was a criminal even though he doesn't fit the typical profile — he has two collegiate degrees — and she brushed aside his attempt to characterise the business as a big mistake.

'It was a carefully planned life's work. It was your opus,' she said. 'You are no better a person than any other drug dealer.'

Ulbricht, pictured, claimed the bitcoins are not from criminal activities and will try and reclaim the cash from the sale

Forrest said the sentence was necessary to show others who might follow his path that there are 'very serious consequences.'

Prosecutors say he collected $18 million in bitcoins through commissions on drug sales on a website containing thousands of listings under categories like 'Cannabis,' ''Psychedelics' and 'Stimulants.' They said he brokered more than one million drug deals worth over $183 million while he operated on the site under the alias Dread Pirate Roberts — a reference to the swashbuckling character in 'The Princess Bride.'

'You were captain of the ship, Dread Pirate Roberts,' Forrest said. 'It was a world with laws you created. ... It was a place with a lot of rules. If you broke the rules, you'd have all kinds of things done to you.'

Forrest said she was 'blown away in fury' at the 'breathtakingly irresponsible' Internet postings of a doctor who advised customers on Silk Road about the effects of various drugs.

Prosecutors cited at least five deaths traced to overdoses from drugs bought on Silk Road, and two parents who each lost a child spoke in court.

Before the sentence was announced, a sniffling and apologetic Ulbricht told Forrest he's a changed man who is not greedy or vain by nature.

'I've essentially ruined my life and broken the hearts of every member of my family and my closest friends,' he said. 'I'm not a self-centered sociopathic person that was trying to express some inner badness. I do love freedom. It's been devastating to lose it.'

His hands folded before him, Ulbricht was stoic as the sentence was announced. As he left the courtroom, he carried with him photographs of those who died as a result of drugs purchased on Silk Road.

Serrin Turner, a prosecutor, had sought a lengthy prison sentence above the 20 year mininum. While he acknowledged Ulbricht's politics might have factored into his motivations, Turner said 'he did not do it for idealistic motive,' but to make money.

'This was not some disinterested do-gooder,' he said. 'What he did was allow anyone anywhere in the world to obtain any drug they wanted as long as they had a computer and shipping address.

'If he wanted to pursue a political agenda, he could have done so through the political process.'

Silk Road operated for more than two years, allowing users to anonymously buy drugs and other illicit goods and generating over $214 million in sales in the process, prosecutors said.

The online virtual currency allows people to trade goods and services anonymously

The online black market was shutdown in October 2013, when authorities seized the website and arrested Ulbricht at a San Francisco website.

Prosecutors said Ulbricht operated the website under the alias Dread Pirate Roberts, a reference to a character in the 1987 movie 'The Princess Bride.'

The website relied on the Tor network, which lets users communicate anonymously, and accepted bitcoin as payment, which prosecutors said allowed users to conceal their identities and locations.

Prosecutors said Ulbricht, who grew up in Austin, Texas, took extreme steps to protect Silk Road, soliciting the murders of several people who posed a threat. No evidence exists the murders were carried out.

At trial, Joshua Dratel, his lawyer, said Ulbricht had indeed created what he intended as a 'freewheeling, free market site' where all but a few harmful items could be sold.