Thomas Pavey sentencing in Empire Market darknet case

Empire Market co-founder Thomas Pavey is expected to be sentenced in the US Northern District of Illinois later in October 2026; the exact day has not been confirmed. He has agreed to forfeit about 1,584 BTC, which could eventually be added to the US Strategic Bitcoin Reserve.

What is happening

Pavey co-founded the darknet marketplace Empire Market, which operated from 2018 to 2020 before being taken down. According to prosecutors, more than four million deals worth over $430 million ran through the site, with drugs accounting for just under $375 million. Payment was made exclusively in cryptocurrencies, and operators advised customers to obscure payments through mixers.

His co-founder, Raheim Hamilton, was sentenced on October 5, 2026 to 40 years in prison and a $5 million fine. As part of his agreement with prosecutors, Hamilton handed over around 1,230 BTC, 24.4 ETH and three properties in Virginia. Pavey has agreed to hand over around 1,584 BTC, and his own sentence is the remaining step. The date is tentative, so it may shift within the month or beyond it.

Taken together, the two co-founders' forfeitures amount to 2,814 BTC, roughly $234 million at the price cited in the source.

Why it matters

A 2025 executive order created a strategic bitcoin reserve to hold Treasury bitcoin that is finally forfeited in criminal or civil proceedings, and coins in that reserve may not be sold. Exceptions include returning funds to identifiable victims and court orders. Because a drugs marketplace leaves few victims to repay, the source suggests the forfeited coins are likely to end up in the reserve. Authorities have not announced whether or when this will happen, and it requires the forfeiture to become final, which depends on Pavey's sentencing.

For holders and traders, the relevance is about supply: coins that go into the reserve are not expected to be sold, which reduces the amount of state-held bitcoin that could reach the market. By contrast, movements of government-attributed wallets are not sales in themselves; no sale of the transferred coins has been documented. Legislation that would make state bitcoin unsellable for at least 20 years is pending in Congress but has not passed.

Key details

• Date: October 2026 (month precision; exact day not confirmed)
• Project: Empire Market / US Attorney's Office, Northern District of Illinois
• Coins: BTC
• Category: Regulatory Deadline
• Status: Tentative
• Source: cryptoticker.io, "Darknet, Bitcoin, Empire Market, US reserve, Saxony" (https://cryptoticker.io/en/darknet-bitcoin-empire-market-us-reserve-saxony)