ilk Road was a famous black market platform hosted digitally. It was renowned for hosting illegal drug transactions and money laundering activities on the dark web. Users exchanged Bitcoin as a way to pay for these services.
“SILK ROAD IS GOING TO BECOME A PHENOMENON AND AT LEAST ONE PERSON WILL TELL ME ABOUT IT, UNKNOWING THAT I WAS ITS CREATOR”Dread Pirate Roberts, 2011
Generally, people regard this digital black market as the first darknet market. Silk Road launched in 2011 and ran for two years until the FBI shut it down in 2013. Yet, within the short period of its existence, it managed to total approximately $1.2 Billion in total sales. It is also credited for being indirectly responsible for the other darknet platforms that have sprung up since then.
“IF THE MAJORITY WANTS TO BAN THE SALES OF GUNS ON SILK ROAD, THERE IS NO WAY WE ARE GOING TO TURN OUR BACKS ON THE MINORITY WHO NEEDS WEAPONRY FOR SELF-DEFENSE”.Dread Pirate Roberts, 2012
What is The History of The Term ”Silk Road”?
The historical concept of the Silk Road wasn’t really a road but two overland routes where merchants carried goods for trade. One of the routes connected East Mediterranean to Central Asia, and the other connected Central Asia to China. What is interesting is that the Silk Road also involved sea travel connecting various locations. So really, it was a network of trade routes as opposed to a single road.
While the traders themselves did not go very far, the goods would change hands in between towns or geographical locations and eventually end up with its consumers on the other side of the world. The Silk Road started by exporting only silk, which was then a scarce commodity produced only in China. This is probably where it got its name from.
How Did the Silk Road Start?
The frequenters of the modern-day darknet Silk Road had a need. They wanted to find a way to connect with other parties interested in the sales of their illegal drugs. And they needed to carry out these transactions without risking exposure of their identities. In 2011, a developer created Silk Road to feed that need.
A haven for criminals, the darknet market operated on pure anonymity through a genius combination of data anonymization and feedback trading technology. The hidden site was only accessible through Tor. Tor is an independent network that exists for anonymizing user’s data and activities on the internet. Tor obstructs searching parties from discovering its users’ details. The entire structure of conducting business and accessing data on Silk Road was so airtight; users carried out numerous transactions confidently.
Furthermore, the site allowed users to provide anonymous buyer feedback. The feature will enable buyers to give feedback on sellers’ goods after receiving purchased products. This way, other buyers could make better choices. Also, the site used the feedback to weed out scams and bobby traps. With this feedback system, the Silk Road was able to keep its market free of risks. Consequently, the benefits of using this site outweighed its cons for the criminals. Within a short while, the site was highly sought after.
Another peculiar method the Silk Road employed was using only Bitcoin — a digital currency — to conduct transactions. Typically, every transaction that uses Bitcoin is recorded on a public ledger. This ledger is available to regulatory and legal bodies for transparency purposes. To avoid possible regulations, online users sometimes create dark wallets to provide a layer of security. Therefore, users had an extra layer on top of the already airtight security on the darknet market site.
“THERE ARE HEROES AMONG US HERE ON SILK ROAD. EVERY DAY THEY RISK THEIR LIVES, FORTUNES, AND PRECIOUS LIBERTY FOR US. THEY ARE ON THE FRONT LINES MAKING TOUGH DECISIONS AND WORK THEIR ASSES OFF TO MAKE THIS MARKET WHAT IT IS. OF COURSE I’M TALKING ABOUT OUR VENDORS”.Dread Pirate Roberts, 2012
Who Was The Main Player?
Ross William Ulbricht is the founder of the infamous Silk Road. He is now serving a double life sentence in the United States of America for his part in the crimes committed. Ross William Ulbricht was born on the 27th of March 1984. He was only 29 years old when he was captured. He founded the site as “a means to abolish the use of coercion and aggression amongst mankind.”
Ross’s online pseudonym was Dread Pirate Roberts. According to Ulbricht, with Silk Road, he was “creating an economic simulation to give people a first-hand experience of what it would be like to live in a world without the systemic use of force.”
How Silk Road Was Shut Down
In early 2013, a sought after an Australian drug dealer was linked to crimes committed on Silk Road. From here, the authorities were able to unravel the pieces that finally led them to the party responsible for running the site.
The federal agents had admitted to having a difficult time tracing the frequenters of Silk Road because of Tor and Bitcoin. Identifying parties involved even after they had deciphered crimes they committed proved to be even more difficult. Still, after months of dedicated searches, they were finally able to trace the site to Ulbricht.
The FBI arrested Ulbricht on the second day of October 2013. To get to Ulbricht, the FBI had to team up with IRS, DEA, and Customs agents. The authorities apprehended Ulbricht in a San Francisco library.
The courts didn’t pass judgment on Ulbricht until 2015 when he got a double life sentence plus 40 years without parole. Furthermore, the FBI shut down the site permanently, but not before seizing 144,336 bitcoins from a shared digital wallet found on Ulbricht’s laptop.
The bitcoins were sold for a total of $48.2 million in an auction. It was also determined that Ross made up to $80 million from the deals executed on his site. He made his money through commissions for every transaction on his website.
“SILK ROAD WAS SUPPOSED TO BE ABOUT GIVING PEOPLE THE FREEDOM TO MAKE THEIR OWN CHOICES, PURSUE THEIR OWN HAPPINESS, HOWEVER THEY INDIVIDUALLY SAW FIT. TURNED OUT TO BE A NAIVE AND COSTLY IDEA THAT I DEEPLY REGRET”
Ross Ulbricht, 2015, Quote From Sentencing Letter to his Judge
Since the demise of the site, other darknet criminal markets have sprung up, keeping the authorities busy. Also, Ulbricht has attempted to appeal his case a few times. His family — mainly his mother— have been at the forefront of rallying support for his case. Although he has a few supporters, it has done nothing to soften the government’s stance.
