Topic: Do you see Silk Road's closure as a positive or negative? - page 7. (Read 8143 times)

Positive. Now all the myths of SR being the backbone of BTC are now debunked.

I voted positive. For one thing, it makes bitcoin more 'respectable' in the eyes of Joe "I'm sure I'd never touch drugs" Public. For another thing, it's actually good in the long term for the black market in drugs. Other sites will mushroom up (probably they already have done), with a bit of luck there'll be several, not just one, and hopefully the people running them will be smarter than DPR, more careful in their online habits, less willing to trumpet their achievements and goad the powers that be.

Aaaaand I do now realise I've signed up to this forum with my email address derived from my real name, no less.  Oh well, it's still not illegal (yet) to state one's opposition to the WoD, and moral support of those who wish to undermine it. So yeah, NSA, DEA, GCHQ and NCA, I hate you guys, blow me.

To you perhaps it is, perhaps you should have appended that with "In my opinion".

In my opinion the "sex, drugs and scams" hurts bitcoin becoming a globally acknowledged legitimate form of trade and that is what I want.

Neil

In the long term, was the closure of Napster good or bad for P2P file sharing?

Very Very negative. The community will lose a great number of users if no one steps into fill the gap. BitCoin is all about Anarchy, Freedom and anonymity. I can't believe people in the Bitcoin community are saying this is a positive thing. I think Obama libtards have finally infiltrated the community. Sad sad day this is

I see it as being a good thing. The silk road was casting a bad light on those of us who mine/trade/use bitcoins and do not have any interest in using services like the silk road or performing/purchasing illicit activities/items with bitcoins. Because of this, I view the silk road being closed as a good thing.

Bad because of the people who lost bitcoins.

Good because the next generation of successor sites will be even more resilient.

In the long term the seizure serves as a form of innovation stimulus.

I see Silk Road's closure as a good thing. Silk Road was perhaps the one Tor site known to many people and it was known for two things: facilitating drug deals and using bitcoins to do it. This is how the two became inextricably linked in many people's view just as people were starting to hear about bitcoin. Sure, there will be another site to take Silk Road's place, if there isn't one already up and running, but to be rid of the most obvious such site can only help to improve bitcoin's image.

BTC

Looking to get a feel for the communty's perception on this one as it seems many people are divided.

Personally, I don't think it will make a difference in the long run. Coming down the pipe are plenty of other services that are aiming to fill the now void illegal drug marketplace. Silk Road may have been the biggest fish out there, but another will in time take its place. If anything, the events of today send a message that there is no such thing as anonymity. No, not simply because DPR was found, but because of the stories which have surfaced about how close customer's accounts and information were to being disclosed that it was necessary to hire an assassin. The FBI is sending a message that they do indeed have a strong grip on digital economies. Silk Road was one of the biggest bitcoin marketplaces and it was a business which gave the currency strength. We now have a far more limited array of options to use our bitcoin on.

I was a customer on Silk Road, and although it opened me to the option of purchasing drugs that would normally be completely out of my reach, I only ever purchased books. I also enjoyed frequenting the forums where interesting discussion not found on surface forums was the norm. Obvously there are other forums on Tor, but these readings helped deliver ideas and perspectives that were outside mainstream views, and offered a healthy dose into true developments which are happening in our lifetime. This access to hidden literature and discussion will be sorely missed.

If we have no way of exercising inalienable rights, such as using a medicinal herb with powerful healing properties, the currency itself is irrelevant. With recent exposures of the NSA, it is quite clear we have descended into an Orwellian society. Not only is EVERYTHING now monitored for the sake of "security", we have nowhere to go to speak, act, or enjoy life's most outlier experiences. How can a corporate or government entity prevent a human being from trialing DMT, a substance with massively positive life altering effects? We are being controlled. We are being held down.

"Those who surrender freedom for security will not have, nor do they deserve, either one.”

Here's to the coming successor of SR.

BTC