Silk Road was an online black market and the first modern darknet market. Founded in February 2011 by Ross Ulbricht, who went by "Dread Pirate Roberts," it operated on the Tor network to allow anonymous transactions using Bitcoin. The site quickly became known for facilitating the sale of illegal drugs, but also hosted the trade of other illicit items like fake IDs and hacking software. Ulbricht, who identified as a libertarian, stated he created Silk Road to promote personal freedoms and challenge authority.
Between February 2011 and July 2013, Silk Road facilitated approximately 1.2 million transactions, generating 9,519,664 Bitcoins in revenue. This equated to roughly $1.2 billion, with Silk Road collecting 614,305 Bitcoins in commissions. The FBI shut down the website in October 2013 and arrested Ulbricht. In 2015, Ulbricht was convicted on multiple charges and sentenced to two life sentences without parole; however, he was pardoned by President Donald Trump in 2025. Although Silk Road 2.0 emerged briefly, it was also shut down. While the original Silk Road is defunct, its model has inspired other darknet marketplaces.
