In a discussion on the Silk Road forums on the so-called darknet this weekend, some information has come to light regarding Silk Road 2.0 — the second iteration of the online drug marketplace which opened one month following the famous Silk Road shut down by the feds.
In the post, ‘Defcon’ makes users aware that the second Dread Pirate Roberts (also known as “DPR”) has gone silent this weekend. The news comes not long after others involved with the operation were taken into custody by authorities.
“Three of our crew were lost, and our Captain was forced into exile,” wrote Defcon on the post — a move surely made so as to not compromise the marketplace and reveal DPR’s secret identity.
In other news on the matter, the post also goes on to outline that users’ bitcoins held in escrow are — for now — trapped. In order to make the marketplace more secure, a decision was made to store the lot of user funds offline. Defcon explains that when DPR hit the killswitch after the aforementioned arrests, he did not receive an encrypted message with private keys to the funds in escrow — a self-described major point of failure.
Defcon explains that he — along with his staff — are prepared to pay user balances from their own salaries to make the wrong a right.
The individuals behind Silk Road take tremendous precautions in all facets. After all, the entire operation is illegal. But will Silk Road 2.0 see the same fate as it’s federally-seized counterpart?
