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Soho97UK
Premium Member
join:2004-08-18
UK

1 edit

Soho97UK to justin

Premium Member

to justin

Re: silkroad

Maintaining true anonymity is a tricky business with a high profile site. I doubt he expected it to be the huge success it became.

I also expect book and movie deals, but assume he'll be spending quite a few years behind bars before he gets to enjoy the proceeds.

EDIT:

You can see how this is affecting Silk Road users on reddit - »www.reddit.com/r/silkroad

justin
..needs sleep
Mod
join:1999-05-28
2031
Billion BiPAC 7800N
Apple AirPort Extreme (2011)

justin

Mod

I expect they will throw away the key. Attempted murder? he'll get life. They seized what was in escrow, in the site accounts, but clearly he made 10s of millions at least @ the current btc value.

With the difficulty converting btc back to cash in large quantities it could all still be in bitcoins sitting on a thumbdrive somewhere, waiting for someone who knows the key. Like shawshank redemption maybe he will get out at 65 and go to a tree in a field somewhere. Assuming the crypto currency survives till then.

dib22
join:2002-01-27
Kansas City, MO

dib22

Member

said by justin:

Assuming the crypto currency survives till then.

He might crash the market cashing it out
PX Eliezer1
Premium Member
join:2013-03-10
Zubrowka USA

PX Eliezer1

Premium Member

I think this will remove a lot of the attraction of Bitcoin.

Takes out one major place to use it.

justin
..needs sleep
Mod
join:1999-05-28
2031
Billion BiPAC 7800N
Apple AirPort Extreme (2011)

1 recommendation

justin

Mod

I'm not sure, they've taken out one guy pretty effectively but the vendors, the customers, and the currency is still online. There are competing sites following the same model. This will boost the competition one of which will step up to fill the gap.

As I read somewhere: napster shuttered! the end of pirating, no, not by a long shot.

Camaro
Question everything
Premium Member
join:2008-04-05
Westfield, MA

Camaro to Soho97UK

Premium Member

to Soho97UK
said by Soho97UK:

Maintaining true anonymity is a tricky business with a high profile site.

The way I figure if you are going to do something like this that basically paints a bulls eye on you is at least take basic steps, like hacking someone else's wifi on the other side of your state, maybe the next state over, don't use speed pass or any car tracking system to develop a pattern on you and map out roads with no speed cameras, turn your cell phone off, AND DON"T USE YOUR PERSONAL COMPUTER. You know basic stuff a geek should know. He deserved to get caught being that naive.

BonezX
Basement Dweller
Premium Member
join:2004-04-13
Canada

BonezX to justin

Premium Member

to justin
i'm surprised they just didn't tag him when he tried to transfer bitcoins for purchases. the little cryptodollars are tracked through every transaction, it wouldn't be hard to "sell" him something and get the information from the transaction.

»en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Anonymity

it isn't terribly hard to find someone through them if you transfer them to the wrong person.

Mike
Mod
join:2000-09-17
Pittsburgh, PA

Mike

Mod

basically set up millions of honey pots and hope for the best?

That's an interesting idea.

justin
..needs sleep
Mod
join:1999-05-28
2031
Billion BiPAC 7800N
Apple AirPort Extreme (2011)

justin to BonezX

Mod

to BonezX
said by BonezX:

i'm surprised they just didn't tag him when he tried to transfer bitcoins for purchases.

Since he apparently has a huge bitcoin wallet - as yet unencrypted by the authorities - it is possible that the majority of his profits were kept in btc.

Since the entry point and exit point for bitcoins were not very well regulated it was (and probably still is) possible to convert money to bitcoins and bitcoins to money without a solid tie to a real life identity.

Silk road also "tumbled" coins to de-link a given bitcoin value from a specific transaction. I'm imagining any serious vendors would have further tumbled their coins before daring to cash any in. Although there is a trail, and it is public, it is a long series of anonymous numbers, not a long series of real life identities. Without knowing all the links in a chain, and without any other supporting evidence, having possession of a bitcoin previously (for example) stolen is not by itself proof of anything.