Bitcoin-Based Drug Market Silk Road Thriving With $2 Million In Monthly Sales

Sparrowvsrevolution writes "Every day or so of the last six months, Carnegie Mellon computer security professor Nicolas Christin has crawled and scraped Silk Road, the Tor- and Bitcoin-based underground online market for illegal drug sales. Now Christin has released a paper (PDF) on his findings, which show that the site's business is booming: its number of sellers, who offer everything from cocaine to ecstasy, has jumped from around 300 in February to more than 550. Its total sales now add up to around $1.9 million a month. And its operators generate more than $6,000 a day in commissions for themselves, compared with around $2,500 in February. Most surprising, perhaps, is that buyers rate the sellers on the site as relatively trustworthy, despite the fact that no real identities are used. Close to 98% of ratings on the site are positive."

Comments

Nice Ad Placement or DEA Honeypot

[Lashat]

You decide.

Re:And in countries where it's legal?

[mcgrew]

When I was in Thailand in 1974 there were only four drugs you couldn't buy in a pharmacy, and they were marijuana, cocaine, LSD and heroin. LSD and cocaine were completely unavailable, the place was awash with heroin and pot, and you needed no prescription for any other drug. Ecstasy might not have been invented then, but they had some amphetamines that one pill would keep you awake for two days straight. There was a salve available that was used for terminating pregnancies if the woman rubbed it on their belly button, or induce an out of body experience if you rubbed it on your temples. Quaaludes were available in pharmacies without a prescription as well.

Oddly, although the country was awash with heroin, the only heroin addicts I ran across were all GIs.

Re:And in countries where it's legal?

[wisdom_brewing]

There was once this fantastic little tea shop in a small village in Switzerland, did amazing business

They specialized in Green Teas, had varieties from all over the world, extremely good quality and extremely expensive.

You bought your tea and they gave you the choice of giving your address with a perculiar little tick box.

You don't tick the box or don't give your address and you get a lovely little bag with nicely packed green tea.

You do and a few hours later a courier delivers an Amazon package to your door (still don't know where they sourced THAT) containing a specific quantity of something else that was green.

Great little business, too bad it's gone now... Owner apparently retired a very wealthy man.