Alert placed on the Silk Road 2.0's homepage following its seizure by the U.S. government and European law enforcement. (Credit: FBI)

Backstory 

Silk Road was an infamous digital black market platform that was wildly popular for money laundering activities and illegal drug transactions using Bitcoin.

Silk Road, regarded as the first darknet market, was launched in 2011 and eventually shut down by the FBI in 2013.

It was founded by Ross William Ulbricht, who is now serving a life sentence in prison for his role in Silk Road.

• Utilizing privacy techniques such as the Tor network and cryptocurrency transactions, people were able to transact in drugs, hacked passwords, illegal data, and other contraband.
• The Silk Road was an online black market where buyers and sellers of illegal or unethical items could transact anonymously

The Fall of Silk Road

The Silk Road came to its demise in 2013 after the FBI, after learning about the existence of the hidden marketplace, colluded with the DEA, IRS, and Customs agents. Although the federal agents admitted that the use of Tor and Bitcoin to obscure addresses were major obstacles that they encountered, they were still able to crack down on the underground drug market.

• The FBI shut down the site permanently, seized more than 144,000 bitcoins (then valued at $122 million), and arrested a number of users of the site including the founder, Ross Ulbricht, who made about $80 million in commissions from transactions carried out within the site. Ulbricht was convicted in 2015 and is currently serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole.

Below is Hollywood's take on the legendary site and how it was taken down was eventually made and released February 19th, 2021.

Young, idealistic and driven to succeed, Ross Ulbricht creates Silk Road, the internet's first unregulated marketplace. When the site becomes a multimillion dollar pipeline for illicit drugs, Ulbricht draws the attention of Rick Bowden, a dangerously unpredictable DEA agent who uses any means necessary to take him down.

Based on: “Dead End on Silk Road” by David Kushner

Stars: Nick Robinson, Jennifer Yun, Jimmi Simpson