Topic: End of Silk Road is good for the long run (Read 3349 times)
Ironically, this result is actually a great outcome for privacy proponents. It basically affirms that criminals can still be caught even though pseudo-anonymous payment systems and online privacy exists. Therefore there is no reason to deny privacy to the public.
Also, it may be obvious to most but it needs to be said:
If there was a backdoor to TOR (or whatever), its protection would be of greater importance than this small % of the drug trade. So the FBI would have to work the end back to the beginning to find a plausible detection path that did not expose the back door. But having said that, I don't believe it. If you look back at "altior"'s posts its obvious he was developing a BTC service exactly at the time SR was created. I didn't do it but you can imagine how easy it would be (if you were an agent working this case 40 hours a week) to examine every bitcointalk post around that time. You'd end up with a very short list of people asking these questions...
Honestly I did not expect such a quick bounce back up. The strength of bitcoin to quickly recover from panic lows is remarkable.
Never understood why SR was used by the media to paint the innovation of the decade that is bitcoin as something shady. No difference from using untraceable cash to buy drugs on the street. Now SR is gone critics won't have a leg to stand on.
I am also greatly pleased and surprised at the sudden price bounce from $80 back to where it was before SR went down. There are some really strong pimp hands in the market. None of that panicky lets all dump at the same time at the sign of smoke. If SR went down in Apr or May we might have seen $30 prices.
I am also greatly pleased and surprised at the sudden price bounce from $80 back to where it was before SR went down. There are some really strong pimp hands in the market. None of that panicky lets all dump at the same time at the sign of smoke. If SR went down in Apr or May we might have seen $30 prices.
Another major thing it tells us is that TOR, BTC and SR wasn't compromised, so much as DPR was a total fucking idiot.. if you read the charge sheets and think for one second about what he was doing, the gravity of it and how often and stupidly he fucked up, the he deserved what he got.
I don't think we should take those charges at face value and assume he actually did all those things. But I agree he wasn't being careful enough and it was a human mistake that got him caught.
Good for Bitcoin? Yes.
A major test has been passed. Despite the sudden drop in value, it rebounded nicely since.
This tells us that Bitcoin can survuve the removal of SR. This also tells us that an associtation with illegal drugs has been removed fromm the minds eye of policy and lawnakers.. not just in USA either.
Another major thing it tells us is that TOR, BTC and SR wasn't compromised, so much as DPR was a total fucking idiot.. if you read the charge sheets and think for one second about what he was doing, the gravity of it and how often and stupidly he fucked up, the he deserved what he got.
There is obviously a market.. there is obviously a proven way to do this.. there is currently a vacum. All it will take is someone who is a little criminally smarter than DPR (wouldn't be too hard) to fill that market need, and it should last longer than SR ever did.
A major test has been passed. Despite the sudden drop in value, it rebounded nicely since.
This tells us that Bitcoin can survuve the removal of SR. This also tells us that an associtation with illegal drugs has been removed fromm the minds eye of policy and lawnakers.. not just in USA either.
Another major thing it tells us is that TOR, BTC and SR wasn't compromised, so much as DPR was a total fucking idiot.. if you read the charge sheets and think for one second about what he was doing, the gravity of it and how often and stupidly he fucked up, the he deserved what he got.
There is obviously a market.. there is obviously a proven way to do this.. there is currently a vacum. All it will take is someone who is a little criminally smarter than DPR (wouldn't be too hard) to fill that market need, and it should last longer than SR ever did.
This last move in price confirms how irrelevant SR was in the big scheme of things in the Bitcoin economy.
Couple of things;
The biggest surprise for me was that he was living in the U.S. I had that sob pegged for Mexico or, at the least, some other non-US jurisdiction - I mean, it was no secret he was one of the most-wanted shoving-it-in-their-face crims of recent years, and conducting that kind of operation in mainland US surely only made it that much more likely for the federālie to pick up on his dirty trail sooner or later.
There's already been quite a release of fascinating details about the man-the-myth and the operation which led to his arrest; I'm thinking of the matter-of-fact revelations about him hiring an assassin to go kill some dude, the motivation he had for doing it and how they've got him pinned for the crime. Isn't the public release of this kind of thing considered to bias a future trial? In many countries this kind of release or leak of evidence would seriously jeopardize their admissibility in any court proceeding because association of guilt has already been inferred in public, and so making it hardly possible to conduct a fair and unbiased trial on these charges.
EDIT: you know, actually - do me a favour and ignore me; I'm always eager to be pissed at other people who take a thread off-on-a-tangent, and this here ponderment of mine is just fucking that.
The biggest surprise for me was that he was living in the U.S. I had that sob pegged for Mexico or, at the least, some other non-US jurisdiction - I mean, it was no secret he was one of the most-wanted shoving-it-in-their-face crims of recent years, and conducting that kind of operation in mainland US surely only made it that much more likely for the federālie to pick up on his dirty trail sooner or later.
There's already been quite a release of fascinating details about the man-the-myth and the operation which led to his arrest; I'm thinking of the matter-of-fact revelations about him hiring an assassin to go kill some dude, the motivation he had for doing it and how they've got him pinned for the crime. Isn't the public release of this kind of thing considered to bias a future trial? In many countries this kind of release or leak of evidence would seriously jeopardize their admissibility in any court proceeding because association of guilt has already been inferred in public, and so making it hardly possible to conduct a fair and unbiased trial on these charges.
EDIT: you know, actually - do me a favour and ignore me; I'm always eager to be pissed at other people who take a thread off-on-a-tangent, and this here ponderment of mine is just fucking that.
Another "silk road" will just pop up and take it's place anyway.
http://cryptolife.net/silk-road-takedown-bitcoin-great-buy-right-now/
http://cryptolife.net/silk-road-takedown-bitcoin-great-buy-right-now/
I'm just curious how did they seize those coins? They got his wallet password? He has the right to keep silent 
Those coins were seized from the SR web server, where he had kept a fraction of what was seized. Hes made a net worth of like $100 million, which are probably in wallets ... that he's going to keep quiet about.
The SR Web Server gave buyer's Escrow, that's why they took the chance in the first place, so the web server which was also acting as an escrow service had all the BTC from all the pending transactions of buyer's whose bitcoins were being held in SR's Escrow until they received their order and released their order's BTC from escrow to the vendor.
Other words, everyone whose an SR member and whose deposited money into their SR account just lost all those BTC. The BTC of vendor's who had funds in their silk road account that they had yet to withdraw are gone. The padding funds used to operate an Escrow service are gone.
Basically they seized whatever was on the Silk Road Web Server, which they're in possesion of, and sadly they didn't seize much from DPR, they seized everything from every SR user who had funds in their SR accounts.
What about people who visited SR buying/selling perfectly legal goods? What right do they have right to seize their BTC? Now I almost regret never visiting the famous site myself.
BTW: Fed Government shutdown was a insidious cover move.
Well said as always D&T. 
The end of SR doesn't mean the end of drug sales in Bitcoins any more than the bust of any USD based drug operation means the end of sales in USD.
SR had a million users, it did 9M BTC in volume in 30 months despite charging more than 8% fee (and people complain about Ebay). The means a demand exists. SR is done, the operator is out (due to self inflicted stupidity). Someone else will step up to collect that lucrative profit. If/when they go down another someone or half dozen someones will step up.
When people stop buying drugs in USD they will stop buying drugs in BTC.
SR had a million users, it did 9M BTC in volume in 30 months despite charging more than 8% fee (and people complain about Ebay). The means a demand exists. SR is done, the operator is out (due to self inflicted stupidity). Someone else will step up to collect that lucrative profit. If/when they go down another someone or half dozen someones will step up.
When people stop buying drugs in USD they will stop buying drugs in BTC.
I agree it is a good thing in the long run. However, I hope you realize Silk Road was the pioneer of the power of combining TOR and crypto currencies. There will be many "Silk Roads" in the future, there are already alternatives that exist. It's the power of the people, TOR, and Bitcoin.... DPR supposedly made bank. I'm sure people are going to try to replicate that. I would never do it because I would be paranoid 24x7. I can't imagine, but there are others that will and are obviously.
The only thing that comes out of this is a lot of press about Bitcoin and Silk Road. As they say.. "any news is good news". But it seems most Bitcoin investors seem to like to dump at the sign of any bad news, so I wouldn't be surprised if the price crashed because of this either. We are in the danger zone right now with some big dumps.
The only thing that comes out of this is a lot of press about Bitcoin and Silk Road. As they say.. "any news is good news". But it seems most Bitcoin investors seem to like to dump at the sign of any bad news, so I wouldn't be surprised if the price crashed because of this either. We are in the danger zone right now with some big dumps.
There are already established clones. You can't do much worse than have a operator who was visited by DHS in July, volunteered information about buying fake ID through SR, and apparently still thought himself untouchable enough to continue business as usual (either that, or he isn't the anarchist we thought he was). So yes - SR's disappearance is good long-term for using BTC to purchase illicit goods online, because I can't imagine much worse.
If DHS knocked on my door, and I was him, I would destroy everything, and run with my > 3 million to Spain/Russia.
I'm just curious how did they seize those coins? They got his wallet password? He has the right to keep silent
Those coins were seized from the SR web server, where he had kept a fraction of what was seized. Hes made a net worth of like $100 million, which are probably in wallets ... that he's going to keep quiet about.
The SR Web Server gave buyer's Escrow, that's why they took the chance in the first place, so the web server which was also acting as an escrow service had all the BTC from all the pending transactions of buyer's whose bitcoins were being held in SR's Escrow until they received their order and released their order's BTC from escrow to the vendor.
Other words, everyone whose an SR member and whose deposited money into their SR account just lost all those BTC. The BTC of vendor's who had funds in their silk road account that they had yet to withdraw are gone. The padding funds used to operate an Escrow service are gone.
Basically they seized whatever was on the Silk Road Web Server, which they're in possesion of, and sadly they didn't seize much from DPR, they seized everything from every SR user who had funds in their SR accounts.
No it's not
awww now the government will finally like us, pat our heads and kindly let BTC exist in their endless benevolence. What a statist circle jerk this place has become.
tever was on the Silk Road Web Server, which they're in possesion of, and sadly they didn't seize much from DPR, they seized everything from every SR user who had funds in their SR accounts.
this exactly. it's really quite a sad state of affairs. i never used SR but a friend of mine is now out a few coins. 
I'm just curious how did they seize those coins? They got his wallet password? He has the right to keep silent
Those coins were seized from the SR web server, where he had kept a fraction of what was seized. Hes made a net worth of like $100 million, which are probably in wallets ... that he's going to keep quiet about.
The SR Web Server gave buyer's Escrow, that's why they took the chance in the first place, so the web server which was also acting as an escrow service had all the BTC from all the pending transactions of buyer's whose bitcoins were being held in SR's Escrow until they received their order and released their order's BTC from escrow to the vendor.
Other words, everyone whose an SR member and whose deposited money into their SR account just lost all those BTC. The BTC of vendor's who had funds in their silk road account that they had yet to withdraw are gone. The padding funds used to operate an Escrow service are gone.
Basically they seized whatever was on the Silk Road Web Server, which they're in possesion of, and sadly they didn't seize much from DPR, they seized everything from every SR user who had funds in their SR accounts.
I agree with OP. I can't tell you how many times people equate Bitcoin to drugs. They'll likely have a much harder time doing that once SR is gone. Although another SR is likely to appear, its unlikely to be as famous as the original.
The benefit could actually be much greater than would be indicated by that metric.
Oh ya, I agree it couldn't be precise since the FBI didn't eliminate the market completely, and we don't know what the potential market is, I just think it will be an interesting thing to see.Good points!
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