Press

If anyone still believes that bitcoin is magically anonymous internet money, the US government just offered what may be the clearest demonstration yet that it’s not.

"Darknet Thriving After Crackdown"
January 20, 2015 | Tarek Bazley, Al Jazeera

Fifteen months after his arrest, Ross Ulbricht, the man accused of setting up and running the black market website known as Silk Road, has gone on trial.

Ross Ulbricht was back in a Manhattan federal courtroom today facing drug trafficking and money laundering charges for allegedly running the Silk Road online drug marketplace. We'll have a story on today's court action posted shortly.

"Silk Road Trial: 'Bad PR Moment' for Bitcoin as Cryptocurrency Becomes Powerful Prosecution Tool"
January 19, 2015 | Alistair Charlton, International Business Times

The Silk Road trial represents a "bad PR moment" for bitcoin, as the pseudonymous cryptocurrency becomes a complex and powerful tool for prosecutors to use to their advantage.

"Without Drugs, What's the Point of Bitcoin?"
January 17, 2015 | Matt Schiavenza, The Atlantic

The trial of Ross Ulbricht, which began last week in Manhattan, doesn't lack for entertainment value. The 30-year-old is accused of founding and administering Silk Road, an online market that allowed users to buy and sell illegal drugs using bitcoins as currency.

If only Piper Chapman’s girlfriend, the protagonist in the Netflix series, “Orange is The New Black,” knew the alleged Dread Pirate Roberts and his Libertarian bitcoin Web project, Silk Road, maybe she wouldn’t have had to ask Piper to carry the suitcase full of drug money that landed Piper in the slammer.

"It Took Me Two Clicks To Trace Ross Ulbricht To The Silk Road"
January 16, 2015 | Nicholas Weaver, Forbes

The alleged kingpin of the underground drug marketplace known as the Silk Road, the defendant’s situation is going from bad to worse. I previously wrote how the prosecution could follow the Bitcoin to show that Ulbricht ran Silk Road.

On October 2, 2013, Ross Ulbricht was arrested at the Glen Park branch of the San Francisco Public Library, his laptop open and connected to the library wi-fi. The government claims he is the Dread Pirate Roberts, the infamous kingpin of Silk Road, an online black market for drugs and other illicit goods.

"In the Silk Road Trial, Bitcoin Is a Cop’s Best Friend"
January 14, 2015 | Russell Brandom, The Verge

For years, Bitcoin has been the Silk Road's biggest strength. Escrow wallets let money change hands safely and easily, bitcoin tumblers let users keep drug transactions at arm's length, and, for a while at least, it kept everyone off the radar of law enforcement.

"Here’s What to Expect from the Silk Road Trial"
January 12, 2015 | Kari Paul, Vice Motherboard

After spending the past year in a Brooklyn federal prison, Ross Ulbricht will finally head to a New York City court on Tuesday where prosecutors will try to prove he is the mastermind behind the anonymous billion-dollar online drug market Silk ​Road.

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