The Silk Road 2.0 website has been shut down by the FBI, who arrested its alleged ringleader, Blake Benthall.
26 year old Benthall, who allegedly went by the name “Defcon” on the site, was arrested on Wednesday, and has been charged with hacking, money laundering, and drug trafficking, among others.
The site was a successor to the original Silk Road marketplace run by a user under the name “Dread Pirate Roberts”, whom authorities have alleged is Ross Ulbricht. Silk Road 2.0 was nearly identical to the original Silk Road platform.
In an unusual coincidence, Silk Road 2.0 was shut down a day before its first birthday. At its height, it was said to be generating around $8 million USD monthly in sales.
Benthall, a former employee at SpaceX, entrepreneur, and charity volunteer, is currently in custody.
Bitcoin And Drugs
While Silk Road was not strictly a drug bazaar, the items sold on it were almost exclusively drugs, hacking tools, and other illegal items. Users paid for these items with Bitcoin.
Bitcoin has a long history of illicit trade, having been used by the original Silk Road marketplace after its users realized the ease with which payments could be made on the platform without having to go through traditional payment methods which are far more traceable. While Bitcoin is far from truly anonymous, it is an improvement over credit cards.
Some claim, though, that the existence of these online drug marketplaces actually reduces the amount of drug-related violence occurring globally.
The argument is that because these users are interacting with each other through an impersonal online system, and the goods are being delivered through traditional postal service, it’s far less likely that their interaction will result in violence than if they had met in a back alley somewhere.
Silk Road 2.0 Shut Down, Alleged Founder Arrested
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