Silk Road was an online black market and the first modern darknet market.
As part of the dark web,[8] it was operated as a Tor hidden service, such that online users were able to browse it anonymously and securely without potential traffic monitoring.
The website was launched in February 2011; development had begun six months prior. Initially there were a limited number of new seller accounts available; new sellers had to purchase an account in an auction. Later, a fixed fee was charged for each new seller account. Silk Road provided goods and services to over 100,000 buyers.
In October 2013, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) shut down the website and arrested Ross Ulbricht under charges of being the site's pseudonymous founder "Dread Pirate Roberts". On 6 November 2013, Silk Road 2.0 came online, run by former administrators of Silk Road.
It was also shut down, and the alleged operator was arrested on 6 November 2014 as part of the so-called "Operation Onymous".
Ulbricht was convicted of seven charges related to Silk Road in the U.S. Federal Court in Manhattan and was sentenced to life in prison without possibility of parole. In November 2020, the United States government seized more than $1 billion worth of bitcoin connected to Silk Road
2 окт 2024
