October 2, 2013 – October 2, 2023. It is exactly 10 years since the end of the story of Ross William Ulbricht began. The young American with a sad fate is the founder of Silk Road. Sentenced to life in prison, on October 3 he begins the eleventh year of his stay in the shadow of the light. The story of the young American apprehended by the FBI at the age of 29 begins with the darknet, illicit transactions and cryptocurrencies, notably bitcoin.
Darknet, crypto and Silk Road: the explosive mix
Ross William Ulbricht, who is currently seeking a presidential pardon, was the creator of Silk Road, a Darknet marketplace. Very popular, the site was considered the first Darknet market. It was a marketplace created in 2021 and used for money laundering as well as illegal transactions.
Users made purchases and sales of drugs, illegal data, hacked passwords and several other contraband products. According to reports, the site was used to put buyers and sellers in contact with complete anonymity. It was impossible to trace Silk Road users.
Ross William Ulbricht had integrated a feature into his site allowing buyers to leave reviews after each transaction. Very quickly, the platform’s trust capital experienced dizzying growth.
According to the FBI report, Silk Road generated a total of nearly $1.2 billion in sales. Ross Ulbricht would have received nearly $80 million in commissions on these transactions.
When bitcoin and Tor form an unbeatable duo
To achieve his goals, Ross Ulbricht hid under the pseudonym Dread Pirates Roberts. It was based on the Tor network and the strengths of crypto technology.
The Tor network allowed it to hide users’ identity and location information using a powerful encryption process. When it comes to bitcoin, the cryptocurrency was the perfect payment solution for transactions on the platform. Indeed, the Bitcoin network offered the advantage of decentralization and anonymity.
Because the Bitcoin network blockchain is accessible and transparent, the Tor network complemented it perfectly. Tor and Bitcoin therefore formed the perfect duo for the Silk Road site.
Users of the platform could thus engage in criminal activities and transactions without fear of being caught by the authorities. The Silk Road story is one of those that has aroused international regulators’ distrust of cryptocurrencies.
Silk Road, the road that only led to a prison
According to the story told by his girlfriend, Ross William Ulbricht was inspired by the name of the Asian project “the Silk Road”. The name Silk Road ultimately did not bring him luck. The platform was closed at the beginning of October 2013, only 2 years after its creation.
Indeed, the FBI learned of the existence of Silk Road through collaboration with agents from the DEA, IRS and Customs. On October 2, 2013, the FBI raided a cafe. The founder of Silk Road is apprehended. The federal agency permanently shut down the site and seized more than 144,000 bitcoins.
At the time, this loot was worth approximately $34 million. Several other Silk Roak users are arrested. As for Ulbricht, he was sentenced in 2015 to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Since then, more than 250 organizations and several prominent individuals have signed a petition for his release. A website “freerooss.org” has also been created for this purpose. The petition calls for a second chance for the prisoner who has just closed an entire decade behind bars.
She specifies that Ross, who gave up $3 billion in bitcoin, had a clean criminal record before the Silk Road affair. In addition, the other people accused in the same case only received an average sentence of 6 years of imprisonment.
Have the Tor network and the Bitcoin network left any loopholes?
It is unimaginable that the FBI could get its hands on the Silk Road system despite the confidentiality protocols deployed on the site. In fact, Ross’ arrest and the shutdown of the Silk Road site were neither due to cryptocurrency nor the Tor network.
Pro-bitcoin and defenders of the advantages of cryptocurrencies can therefore rest assured. Federal agents admitted that the Tor and Bitcoin networks prevented them from getting their hands on Silk Road. They said they had to be patient and dig deep into the intricacies of online discussion forums.
In fact, Ulbricht is responsible for his own downfall. His descent into hell was triggered the day he made the mistake of sending an email address containing his name to a forum. It was a rookie mistake. It all started in January 2011.
A certain “Altoid” sends a link in a discussion forum to a drug sales site called Silk Road. Later, the same user posts an advertising message on Silk Road in a forum dedicated to bitcoin. Federal agents therefore began following him.
In October 2011, Altoid posted a message stating that it was looking for a bitcoin expert. Unfortunately, he indicates his Gmail address “ [email protected] “. This was the initial flaw. With the collaboration of Google, customs and social networks, the FBI managed to locate Ross Ulbricht. It was the end for Silk Road and its creator.
After an entire decade in prison, Ulbricht is currently begging the president for a pardon. Meanwhile, bitcoin continues to rule the cryptocurrency realm with a reputation stronger than ever.
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