Part 1/8:
The Rise and Fall of Silk Road: A Cautionary Tale
On October 1, 2013, federal authorities executed a carefully coordinated operation at a public library in San Francisco, leading to the arrest of Ross Ulbricht, the mastermind behind one of the largest online markets for illegal drugs in history—Silk Road. This revolutionary marketplace, which utilized the anonymity of the dark web and Bitcoin, generated nearly $214 million in sales before its downfall, reflecting both the innovative potential of cryptocurrency and the darker aspects of human commerce.