Comments on: Using Silk Road: game theory, economics, dope and anonymity

By: Michael Curran

Michael Curran — Wed, 20 Feb 2013 12:42:00 +0000

Sure, if I am one half of the transaction.

By: hugh crawford

hugh crawford — Tue, 19 Feb 2013 21:40:00 +0000

But is there any way to link an individual bitcoin transfer to a particular transaction?

By: Michael Curran

Michael Curran — Tue, 19 Feb 2013 20:06:00 +0000

It’s not as easy as you might think. All the transactions are public and traceable, unlike email. The best you can do if “dilute” the BCs using an 3rd party to aggregate the money and muddy the trail. Trying to launder Bitcoins is like laundering a shirt with a pen in the pocket, both cases leave everything they touch suspect. Piss off the government enough and they will pound on enough doors to trace it back to you.

By: Promethean Sky

Promethean Sky — Tue, 19 Feb 2013 19:54:00 +0000

Fascinating read. Almost makes me wish I was in the market to buy/sell.

By: Zachary Lee

Zachary Lee — Tue, 19 Feb 2013 19:38:00 +0000

what is the current adress for the road mine isnt loading anymore i reinstalled tor but no luck

By: ZikZak

ZikZak — Tue, 19 Feb 2013 19:34:00 +0000

Anonymizing a bitcoin transaction is entirely possible. Granted, most users don’t bother to do it, but exchanging bitcoins can be just as untraceable as exchanging emails. If you’re making a serious illegal business out of it, you’re probably familiar with such precautions. Either that, or you don’t stay in business for long.

By: Steve Baker

Steve Baker — Tue, 19 Feb 2013 18:42:00 +0000

Has anyone ever considered that it is actually (shadow ) goverments selling the drugs. There is no way the drug market could exist without the co operation of law enforcement.

By: Dave Jenkins

Dave Jenkins — Tue, 19 Feb 2013 18:36:00 +0000

That’s where tacocopter comes into play.

By: Jamie DiBattista

Jamie DiBattista — Tue, 19 Feb 2013 18:19:00 +0000

I think the usps may not be as alert as they’d like the public to believe.

By: nowimnothing

nowimnothing — Tue, 19 Feb 2013 18:08:00 +0000

Actually I just found the source for the screenshot that
http://www.gwern.net/Silk%20Road
has the exchange rate listed as $14. So still quite a bit outside what I would consider normal street prices.

By: WaferMouse

WaferMouse — Tue, 19 Feb 2013 18:04:00 +0000

Fair point, I hadn’t considered that. That would put it just a little outside what I’d call a good deal, not accounting for dealer-maths.

By: nowimnothing

nowimnothing — Tue, 19 Feb 2013 18:01:00 +0000

I wonder how old the screenshot is. Just a year ago it looks like the exchange rate for one Bitcoin was about $5, now it has shot up to around $30.

By: Maggie Koerth-Baker

Maggie Koerth-Baker — Tue, 19 Feb 2013 17:49:00 +0000

Agreed. I’m also unclear of how one receives the goods one has purchased. Like, do they just stick it in the mail? Doesn’t that come with a whole new set of risks?

By: Michael Curran

Michael Curran — Tue, 19 Feb 2013 16:02:00 +0000

I still don’t see how this provides more than a modest increase in security to either party over transacting over breakfast at a Denny’s. Once the transaction has been made, the Bitcoins are traceable forever in each direction, if you bought or sold those Bitcoins through Mt. Gox, the government could drag your account information out of them. As the seller, you have to know that the bitcoins might be being watched, send them to any published account and the government could trace them back to you.

By: WaferMouse

WaferMouse — Tue, 19 Feb 2013 15:59:00 +0000

I just did the maths on the price of that doob in the screenshot, and it’s by far the worst deal I’ve ever seen.