Silk Road was an online marketplace that operated through Tor and used a Bitcoin-based payment system. According to the U.S. Department of Justice’s account of the trial evidence, it operated from January 2011 until its closure in October 2013, with illegal drugs making up most listings. DOJ sentencing announcement.
The prosecution and its aftermath
Ross Ulbricht was convicted on seven charges in February 2015 and sentenced to life imprisonment on May 29, 2015. The linked DOJ statement is a prosecution document: it establishes the announced legal outcome and presents the prosecution’s account, rather than a neutral history of every disputed issue. Read the 2015 record.
A later event must not be omitted: President Donald Trump pardoned Ulbricht on January 21, 2025. The Office of the Pardon Attorney lists the grant and links the warrant. Official clemency record.
Pseudonymous is not anonymous
Bitcoin transactions are public. Addresses do not automatically identify their owners, but address reuse, transaction patterns, and information obtained outside the blockchain can connect activity to people. Tor’s network-layer protections and Bitcoin’s transaction record are different systems with different privacy properties. Bitcoin.org explains these limits.
It would be misleading to reduce the entire investigation to a claim that “the blockchain caught him.” The cited sentencing record describes multiple forms of evidence and investigative activity. Public transaction data is one part of a wider evidentiary picture.
Why this belongs in the history
Our editorial view is that a useful history must include harmful uses and institutional responses alongside technical achievements. Understanding a technology includes understanding the circumstances in which people used it.