The Silk Road has at least two sides. For some, it was a forum where free-minded people interested in economics, individual sovereignty, libertarian ideas, and other things could share their ideas, discuss things, and so on. Others remember that the site facilitated online trade of all types of medicines, generating revenues over a period of 2.5 years. receipt From $200 million to more than $1 billion.

People who believe that the evils of drugs can be combated by prohibiting drugs find Silk Road, an ugly site run by criminals for criminals. Those who do not support the War on Drugs and lean on the side of harm reduction find market activity healthier than traditional street drug trafficking. However, the site wasn't just about drugs.

The ideas behind the Silk Road

The Silk Road had several overseers, so it is not clear whether they all shared the same ideology and goals. In office, they faced violence and coercion, and promoted individual freedom over tyranny. One letter had a section that said: “What we do is not about recording drugs or sticking them on a man.” It's about standing up for our rights as human beings and refusing to submit when we've done nothing wrong. The Silk Road is a vehicle for this message.

According to the legendary main market operator, Dread Pirate Roberts, the Silk Road had several prohibited types of goods and services. Services included murderers, child pornography, coupons, counterfeit money, and stolen property. Goods and services sold on Silk Road should not be intended to harm users of the marketplace.

One might wonder how the Silk Road ended up facilitating drug sales if it did not allow harmful goods? Well, this is complicated. 2014 study He appears A significant amount of deals on the Silk Road were at the dealer level, and the volumes were large enough to reduce drug violence on the street. Instead of fighting each other, drug dealers began embracing marketing stunts and trying to get better products to sell as online drug trafficking imposed new rules. Now, customers can post negative or positive comments, which affects the merchant's reputation in the market, and this is more important than weapons.

Additionally, the forum was full of instructions on how to get high safely — or better, how to minimize risks and harms, how to avoid overdose, etc. People who dream of completely getting rid of drugs do not like this approach. However, harm reduction advocates favor more conscious drug consumption promoted on the Silk Road.

We do not know the extent to which Ross Ulbricht adhered to what is described above. He is certainly an avid libertarian, and he already had these ideas in the days when he conceived the Silk Road. At the time, he wrote in a LinkedIn post:

“I want to use economic theory as a way to abolish the use of coercion and aggression among humans...I create economic simulations to give people a first-hand experience of what it would be like to live in a world without systematic use.” Of strength.”

Ulbricht is viewed by many as a non-violent idealist rather than a commercial criminal. No one but Tim Draper said America needs this guy to work on the economy. However, it was clear that the unlicensed deep market for drug distribution on the Internet was illegal and could not be tolerated by the authorities. But why exactly is Ross Ulbricht in prison?

Why is he in prison?

Ross Ulbricht was arrested in 2013. At a 2015 trial, he pleaded guilty to creating the market. However, he insists that after creating the market, he allows others to manage it. Now, he's serving a massive life sentence plus 40 years in prison without parole (a fine of more than $180 million aside) for a string of convictions.

The list includes engaging in a continuing criminal enterprise, distributing drugs (including via the Internet), conspiracy to distribute drugs, conspiracy to commit money laundering, conspiracy to traffic in forged identity documents, and conspiracy to commit computer hacking. People who advocate for a pardon for Ulbricht always stress that he is a first-time offender who committed no violent crime and had no victims. Two life sentences plus 40 years seems like too much to run an "eBay drug site."

Before the trial, Ulbricht was charged with attempted murder for hire, but these charges were dropped. One Silk Road person was discussing killing other members to avoid data leakage, but no infection actually occurred, and no evidence was provided that this "person" was Ulbricht.

It is worth noting that Ulbricht is not the only member of the Silk Road team serving a heavy sentence. Roger Thomas Clark, Silk Road's second-in-command, will be sentenced to 20 years in prison in 2023. According to the press release Upon Clark's ruling, on Clark's advice, Ulbricht resorted to hiring a hitman and paying the killer $80,000.

Is Ross innocent?

The answer is negative and cannot be positive in any way. Ulbricht pleaded guilty and He expressed his regret In a letter to a federal judge. He described his brainchild as "an expensive and naive idea that destroyed his life."

While some remember the Silk Road as a place where they could find cheap medicine for sick relatives, others share stories that reveal that Ulbricht's life was not the only one the Silk Road helped ruin. Drugs do it easily, and for many, the Silk Road was an easy way to get some. Ulbricht may have dreamed of enabling freedom, but for some, he made it easier to fall into addiction.

However, it is easy to confuse what we blame for the Silk Road with what we blame for Ulbricht. The latter claims to have distanced itself from the Silk Road early on. Dread Pirate Roberts was allegedly the nickname used by several moderators, however, Ulbricht was found responsible for the DRP actions as if he was the only person behind the handle.

Although Ulbricht denied being the only person using this label and only named Mt.Gox founder Mark Karpeles as the person in question, Judge Katherine B. Forrest declined to discuss the possible involvement of other people in “being a DRP,” and denied the possible involvement of other people in “being a DRP.” “Being a DRP.” He cross-examined eyewitnesses, and chose to follow the prosecution's narrative, effectively blocking the way for Ulbricht's defence.

In the documentary Deep Web, directed by Alex Winter, a senior writer at Wired, Andy Greenberg, who interviewed DRP remotely before the trial, says that the person he was talking to claimed that this title was handed to him by the market's creator, and then unknown. The very name Dread Pirate Roberts refers to a character from the book Princess Bride and the movie of the same name. This hacker can be multiple people who carry out his actions and use his image.

Interestingly, while Ulbricht was in prison, awaiting trial, Silk Road was up and running again, and the operator's name was DRP again. Who knows if it is the same person, but overall, it appears that Ulbricht may not actually be the man responsible for the market activity.

What's more, the FBI has not provided a trustworthy explanation for how it located the Silk Road servers, which was the first big step in shutting down the operation. Many believe that these feds could have illegally hacked into foreign servers without a warrant, violating the Fourth Amendment. However, Ulbricht was unsuccessful in pushing this account to court.

The astonishing sentence for non-violent crimes committed by a first-time offender is sometimes attributed to a smear campaign in which the press presented Ulbricht as a drug dealer who had tried to kill his associates. Murder-for-hire charges were soon dropped, but the stain on Ulbricht's image proved resistant. The jury, which was not technologically savvy to understand things like the deep web and bitcoin, may have been influenced by the image imposed on Ulbricht in the press.

According to Alex WinterUlbricht is a model prisoner who teaches his peers math and yoga, and helps them get off drugs. He describes him as humane, highly educated and self-aware. The Deep Web director believes that Ulbricht's time has been more than enough for his mistakes.

Many politicians, public speakers and institutions They expressed their support For Ulbricht, pointing out that America needs to get these people out of prison. So, if Trump tells the truth, Ulbricht may soon have the opportunity to prove his talents, but this time in a less damaging way.

To answer the question why people in the cryptocurrency community are counting the days until Ross Ulbricht is released from prison, we can cite two main reasons. First, his libertarian views align with those of many in the cryptocurrency community. Second, the cryptocurrency community cares about justice and injustice, and the 11 years Ross spent in prison is widely viewed as enough time for his crimes, especially considering that the land of the free actually The largest incarcerated population on the planet and a life sentence for Ulbricht could cost taxpayers about $2 million.