This is an automated archive made by the Lemmit Bot.
The original was posted on /r/cryptocurrency by /u/ajnsd619 on 2023-09-23 04:17:52.
October 1, 2013: San Francisco Public Library
Two officers identify their target. The young man looks to see what all the arguing is about. It was a staged distraction. A second later he stares at two loaded M17 hand guns pointed at him.
The arresting officers (real names), Scott Brock Bridges & Carl Mark Force, shout orders. He complies, while another officer scamper off with his PC.
Patrons scatter in terror. The Library perimeter swarms with squad cars, a SWAT vehicle, officers with M4-Carbine rifles in full armor gear.
All for this guy.๐
DPR & The Silk Road
We didn't know him as Ross Ulbricht. If you were around in 2011 when The Silk Road went live, then you remember him as DPR, Bitcoin's first anti-hero.
The Silk Road is Bitcoin's most incredible and fascinating episode. It's a story composed of many stories. Each features dangerous and often unstable characters who collaborated to scale their criminal efforts and generate $1.2B in hardly over two years.
This story's too big to share in a single post.
I'm presenting only the most unbelievable aspects. Its an episode that's part of Bitcoin's story, yet most of us know little about.
I mined BTC during this time and my friend, Big Slime, was as a vendor. He sold an extra-legal supplement, popular with body building enthusiasts.
This post introduces you to the players and its most important characters.
In 2.5 years, The Silk Road generated $1.2B in revenue and proved Bitcoin's use case.
The Protagonists
- Ross Ulbricht: Graduate student, and Narco-Kingpin
- Variety Jones: Silk Road VP and Chief Criminal Innovator
- Red&White: Canadian Criminal Syndicate Boss, and master scammer
- Curtis Greene: Lead Developer, and police informant
- Officer Scott Bridges: Secret Service Agent, Lead Investigator, and convicted criminal
- Officer Carl Mark Force: DEA Agent, Lead Investigator, and convicted criminal
- Gary Alford: Accountant
HIGHLIGHTS FROM NEXT POSTS IN SERIES
Silk Road Task Force - Lead Officers
Bad Cop & Bro Cop
The two Federal Agents that led the Silk Road Task Force were straight out of a Monty Python film. They committed a litany of crimes, were later arrested, and sentenced to six years in prison for crimes committed during the investigation.
Officer Bridges would receive an added two years after another of his wallets was discovered. He had also stolen BTC from US Marshalls as well.
The Task Force officers fell into the Silk Road's rabbit hole.
- Officers stole 15,000+ Bitcoins from The Silk Road.
- Officer Bridges actively reported updates to the NSA.
- Officer Force anonymously contacted Ross Ulbricht and informed him Curtis Greene had flipped.
- Force then requested $850K to take Greene out.
None of this was permitted at Ulbricht's trial.
The Accountant
The officers were too busy committing crimes and had no time to solve any. No problem, because this story is filled with the impossible.
As everything transpired, Gary Alford, an IRS Accountant with no investigative resources, would solve the case and bring everyone down.
His secret weapon: Google search
I'll share his amazing techniques with you.
I'll post part 2 tomorrow morning.
Best of luck to you.๐