Silk Road: The Story of Billions of Dollars, Bitcoin and Idealistic Downfall

Silk Road will forever remain in the history books as a sound warning to everyone who wishes to have a truly free market.

In order to truly feel the impact of illegal crypto markets, we need to go back to 2011. If there is a word used to describe Silk Road, it would be unique. It was paradise for people looking to forge documents, acquire illegal weapons or buy drugs.

The website was founded in early 2011 by Ross Ulbricht. He was a self-proclaimed libertarian and went by the nickname “Dread Pirate Roberts”. There have been speculations that the account was used by multiple people, but it was never officially proven. The website was operational for more or less 2 and a half years, but it changed everything.

Ulbricht managed to make millions of dollars and become a convict in that time. The scandals and arrests were many and even had 2 US federal agents included. The United States agents were convicted on charges of corruption.

It all sounds like a fairy tale or a desperate Hollywood attempt to make some money because of the recent lack of creativity. The legacy Silk Road left behind, was ultimately not good or evil. It left questions about corruption and how a truly free market affects and warps people. As a matter of fact, Hollywood did manage to monetize the story. In 2015 the Deep Web chronicles which was narrated by Keanu Reeves focused on how the website came to be and its downfall.

Now the Deep Web is a big part of the Internet, but it’s a part which about 99% of the user base never comes into contact with. It basically has all the content, which can get a person in prison. There is no reliable way to measure the size of the Deep Web, but some people say it’s way bigger than mainstream Internet. Access is acquired by using special software, most notably TOR. The program was developed by the United States Navy and it allows anonymous communication online.

Silk Road’s creation was revolutionary
Silk Road and other similar websites, have commonly started to be referred as the dark web. It’s a part of the deep web, which exists on darknets (ie, overlay networks, which can only be accessed by specific software or configurations).

Ulbricht held libertarian world views. He was a keen supporter of US Presidential Candidate Ron Paul, who in turn wanted to abolish the Federal Reserve. Needless to say, Ulbricht didn’t hold favorable views towards the United States government. He often questioned the legitimacy on the United States’ so called “War on Drugs”.

Like many other talented programmers of his age, Ulbricht didn’t find pleasure in switching job after job on graduation. Even though he had a University of Texas degree in physics and a Masters in Engineering from Pennsylvania State University, he could not see himself as an ordinary scientist. That being said, he set out to Sillicon Valley to create his own never-before-seen start-up.
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