2013-10-02 16:09:54.410634+00 by Dan Lyke 9 comments
I'm shocked! Shocked! FBI seizes underground drug market Silk Road, owner indicted in New York. You may have seen this site as one of the "look what Bitcoins are good for!" applications.
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comments in ascending chronological order (reverse):
#Comment Re: made: 2013-10-02 16:23:55.619689+00 by: ebradway
If this guy was running Silk Road, why the heck was he in the US? There are much safer places to live.
And the first Silk Road may be down but I doubt it will be the last.
#Comment Re: made: 2013-10-02 17:47:59.407693+00 by: Dan Lyke
Interesting speculation on MeFi:
More seriously, though, I wonder to what extent the mobs in the US have been cooperating with the feds on this one. Drug distribution -- if not via internet, specifically -- is something they don't want competition on. If they have any beefs with Ulbricht himself, they can settle that once he's in prison without having to draw any attention on themselves. And he's definitely going to prison -- the feds won't let anybody like that get away easily once they have 'em.
Given that the entrenched drug dealers now seem to be the only ones left arguing against marijuana legalization, I do have to wonder.
#Comment Re: made: 2013-10-02 18:11:27.685757+00 by: ebradway
I doubt there are many "entrenched drug dealers" who sell weed. Marijuana has never been a good product for drug dealers. It's bulky. It smells strongly. And the sell price isn't very high so margins are constantly squeezed.
Maybe they don't want marijuana legalized because of a possible drop in sales of other products. Oh wait, isn't marijuana a "gateway drug"? If so, legalization should increase demand for other drugs.
#Comment Re: made: 2013-10-02 18:21:48.558324+00 by: Dan Lyke
Ah, sorry, we live in different regulatory environments: "entrenched drug dealers" out here also means "medical marijuana supply chain".
#Comment Re: made: 2013-10-02 20:28:37.820281+00 by: ebradway
Yep. The Medical Marijuana Supply Chain here, in Colorado, gets to expand to regular retail on Jan 1, 2014. For some reason, they are keeping the medical marijuana system in place. Maybe in case the full legalization gets repealed or maybe so the infrastructure exists if insurance starts paying for it.
#Comment Re: made: 2013-10-02 21:36:46.597817+00 by: Dan Lyke
Slate asserts that a Stack Overflow question started the unraveling. I've always thought that Stack Overflow will cause grief.
#Comment Re: made: 2013-10-02 22:47:20.657986+00 by: meuon [edit history]
This article claims Silk Road collected 9.5 million bitcoin, out of 11.75 that exist. (21 million potential) That's a lot of stoned geeks.
#Comment Re: made: 2013-10-02 23:10:45.419244+00 by: Dan Lyke
Related: what happened on the BitStamp bitcoin exchange after this bust was announced
#Comment Re: made: 2013-10-05 02:24:35.133229+00 by: Dan Lyke
And it looks like people have figured out which wallet the feds are storing the money in...