The oldest financial highway in the world.
If you’re thinking about the trade pathways via China from Europe, you’re thinking of the “Silk Route.” The Silk Road? Also a goods-pathway, but totally digital.
The Silk Road was created in 2011 as a sketchy-sketch (think: black market) platform. It was a way people could sell drugs illegally online without getting their identities exposed. Thanks to the Silk Road’s data anonymization tech, black markets flourished. If you’re wondering why you didn’t come across it on your latest Google search, it’s because it was only accessible through Tor, an open source privacy network for people who don’t want to be tracked online.
The other reason the Silk Road was a success was buyer feedback. Thanks to reviews, fraudsters weren’t able to get much done. Legit sellers got legit reviews, boosting buyer confidence in the Silk Road.
If you wanted to buy some drugos, launder money, or do something else illegal via the Silk Road, you’d need some Bitcoins, the Silk Road accepted currency. But wait...aren’t Bitcoin transactions super-public? Yep. So Silk Roaders created “dark wallets” to hide from the feds.
The Silk Road only had two glorious years before the FBI took it down in 2013, with the help of the DEA, IRS, and U.S. Customs. They seized $122 million in Bitcoins, and founder Ross Ulbricht was sent to prison for life (no parole). Welp.
