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Evolution Market's Admins Are Gone, Along With $12M In Bitcoin
tsu doh nimh writes: The Evolution Market, an online black market that sells everything contraband — from marijuana, heroin and ecstasy to stolen identities and malicious hacking services — appears to have vanished in the last 24 hours with little warning. Much to the chagrin of countless merchants hawking their wares in the underground market, the curators of the project have reportedly absconded with the community's bitcoins — a stash that some Evolution merchants reckon is worth more than USD $12 million.
... there is no honor among thieves.
People dealing in illegal goods on a site that specialized in black market goods were trusting a 3rd party to hang on to all of their money?
I'm a good cook. I'm a fantastic eater. - Steven Brust
It's no longer funny, it's hilarious. It's hilarious that people still trust an untraceable, pseudoanonymous bit of data that's worth real money to organizations that have no bigger entity breathing down their necks.
I have no love for big banks, but at least in the United States, the FDIC and NCUA do a good job of regulating the banks and credit unions such that the bank cannot simply steal your money wholesale and get away with it.
Do not look into laser with remaining eye.
If the government was not fighting drugs, sites like this would probably just change which black market commodities they were involved with. That is not to say I agree with prohibition, but I think in this case it would not matter one way or the other since it was the profit motive of illegal trades that drew people in.
That tends to be the problem with pure free market corrections. What is good for the market and what is good for individuals in advantageous positions often to not align, with aggregate self interest often running contrary to what is good for almost everyone.
Fortunately, bitcoin allows multi-signature escrow. That permits the escrow service to decide who gets the bitcoins (buyer or seller), but doesn't let them run off with them. It's not perfect, as it can't prevent collusion between escrow agent and either party against the other party, but it does prevent the simpler forms of "just run off with the money". Why it isn't in more widespread use yet, I have no idea.