2013-09-05 Bitcoins: How We Got Busted Buying Drugs On Silk Road's Black Market

[patricktim]

http://www.forbes.com/sites/andygreenberg/2013/09/05/follow-the-bitcoins-how-we-got-busted-buying-drugs-on-silk-roads-black-market/

The crypto-currency Bitcoin has become the preferred payment method for much of the online underground, hailed by none other than the administrator of the booming Silk Road black market as the key to making his illicit business possible. But spending Bitcoins to anonymously score drugs online isn’t as simple as it’s often made out to be.

[rebuilder]

Sensationalist headline... They didn't get busted. The researcher they contacted was able to tell they'd sent funds to Silk Road, but that doesn't mean they could tell whether or not those funds were used for anything illegal. They could have just withdrawn the funds, essentially using SR as a mixing service, for all the researcher knew. AFAIK that's not illegal, although I guess that may be a gray area.