Ross Ulbricht sentenced to life. Good or bad news?

[alani123]

First time silk road went down dates back to 23 June 2013. Back then, many claimed that the backlash bitcoin received through major media in addition with the news of one of the biggest bitcoin marketplaces going down had a direct effect in bitcoin's price. The price kept falling from $128 on June 23 to the low of $70 on July 7. Another key point on Silk Road's story was its resurrection. Silk Road 2.0 was opened on November 6 2013 and it seemed that the rally that had begun prior to that sped up its pace after Silk Road's reopening.

Could the recent events have a notable impact on the price?

[1714955237]

1714955237

[1714955237]

1714955237

[1714955237]

1714955237

[mcplums]

I don't think the news is particularly relevant re. bitcoin's price.

[samson]

It's definitely bad news for him. Life and maximum security to boot.

This was a foregone conclusion from the moment he was arrested anyway.

The judge is a stooge, his own lawyer an ass and even those who were working to catch him were corrupt as fuck.

Murica 

[mcplums]

It's definitely bad news for him. Life and maximum security to boot.

This was a foregone conclusion from the moment he was arrested anyway.

The judge is a stooge, his own lawyer an ass and even those who were working to catch him were corrupt as fuck.

Murica 

I agree, an insane sentence. He was literally making the world a better place with silk road.

He was not making the world a better place by paying to get people killed, but he wasn't even charged with that, let alone convicted.

[gentlemand]

The end of a long, long road and an important part of Bitcoin's history. That's all it is - history.

[DJ Crypto]

The US goverment wanted to make an example out of Ulbricht by giving him life sentence so yeah the poor guy was fuked pretty hard.

[Cconvert2G36]

Bad news for Ross. Bad news for his family that spent everything on his defense.

Non-news for Bitcoin, especially bitcoin price. 

[seleme]

Wow, he's properly screwed.

[randy8777]

can't see this having any impact on the price. the market shows zero impact as you can see. it's quite sad news for the dude himself.

[EternalWingsofGod]

Neutral
If were talking about underground markets the price is impacted by the amount of working exchanges and their are still quite a few out there, what happened to a dealer may not impact the underground much, for new users it could be seen as either positive in that dealers are caught or negative if they percieve it as a risk of using Bitcoins.

[Malin Keshar]

Neutral.

I don't even see the media's articles talking about tor and bitcoin, so no new people would buy or sell because of it, so no effect on prices and no new people attract or repelled.

[montreal]

I don't think there will be any immediate impact on price but articles about the sentence are featured on tons of sites right now (frontpage of yahoo/business insider/new york times/cnn money/wired/ etc). Its even on the front page of reddit and many of the comments are shockingly in favor of Ross and bitcoin. Might not be good or bad news for price but its definitely catching eyes

[goxed]

US justice system is working perfectly, and US is winning the war on drugs.

[anderson00673]

I don't think this will have an effect on price.  Any price movements related to this story have played out long ago when the SR was taken down, and well before he was sentenced.  The conviction is sort of the aftermath that everyone was expecting, even if they were not expecting such a long sentence.

[TPTB_need_war]

It is very much expected that the individual incentives are to be more concerned about the Bitcoin price than the greater implications of this totalitarianism and Ross's plight.

Individuals do not prioritize the global optimization of the society, but rather our own selfish incentives.

[redsn0w]

I am thinking it is a neutral news, why should the price be affected by this news? Are you thinking a lot of people will dump their BTC due of hat news . People should learn, that the bitcoin world is not more affected by the 'external' news: paypal, BTC adopted in XX country, etc... these things do not affect the price anymore.

[Hyena]

Does anyone know how on earth did the LEs get that many bitcoins out from ross? Was ross seriously such an imbecile that he used some super weak password or had his coins unencrypted?

[gentlemand]

Does anyone know how on earth did the LEs get that many bitcoins out from ross? Was ross seriously such an imbecile that he used some super weak password or had his coins unencrypted?

That's a good question. I'm not sure whether they ever explicitly answered that. Considering he kept incriminating text file journals on his laptop it's possible he would've kept the coins unencrypted or even wrote the password somewhere there too. That's why they were so desperate to catch him with it operating.  

I've also seen regular mentions of another several hundred thousand coins. Does anyone know whether these are just turnover or whether they're supposed to be under his control too? His 180 something million dollar bill seems to relate to those. I'm not sure. 

[oblivi]

I think news like this are irrelevant, since SK^ad infinitum will keep popping up on the darknets for the rest of eternity. The problem would be if a legitimate business that was a major player on Bitcoin, went bankrupt, or committed fraud or something, but this is not the case. It was expected.

[defcon23]

i think this sentence is a bit hard, to be honest.. dont forget DPR dont create  SR :  Variety jones did it..  

[HI-TEC99]

Does anyone know how on earth did the LEs get that many bitcoins out from ross? Was ross seriously such an imbecile that he used some super weak password or had his coins unencrypted?

That's a good question. I'm not sure whether they ever explicitly answered that. Considering he kept incriminating text file journals on his laptop it's possible he would've kept the coins unencrypted or even wrote the password somewhere there too. That's why they were so desperate to catch him with it operating.  

I've also seen regular mentions of another several hundred thousand coins. Does anyone know whether these are just turnover or whether they're supposed to be under his control too? His 180 something million dollar bill seems to relate to those. I'm not sure. 

I read that he did a deal with the Feds in which he told them how to access his Bitcoins and agreed to let them sell his coins. In return they said that he could keep the money from the sale if he won his court case, and they could keep the money if he lost.

They probably showed him how far Bitcoin's price had fallen and basically said sell now or they will be worth a lot less by the time your court case is over.

[Xialla]

for bitcoin? just neutral, bitcoin was used there as tool...similar is to ask : "good or bad news for TOR" etc.

anyway, I didn't expect that he will spend rest of his life in prison.

[Hyena]

That's a good question. I'm not sure whether they ever explicitly answered that. Considering he kept incriminating text file journals on his laptop it's possible he would've kept the coins unencrypted or even wrote the password somewhere there too. That's why they were so desperate to catch him with it operating. 

I was wondering that perhaps they offered him lesser punishment if he gave them the keys but then didn't keep their word.

[Benjig]

This was an expected outcome: Ross got life because when it comes to money creation and drug dealing, the US government hates competition so it's bad news for him. But unfortunately for him Bitcoin just sees him this way   Sorry Ross

[TPTB_need_war]

This was an expected outcome: Ross got life because when it comes to money creation and drug dealing, the US government hates competition so it's bad news for him. But unfortunately for him Bitcoin just sees him this way   Sorry Ross

And you expect that such a thankless and personally risky paradigm will embolden the free market against legal tender laws and regulation

How many of you are now willing to make another Silk Road? You think a Tor hidden service[1] will protect you.  

[1]	https://blog.torproject.org/blog/thoughts-and-concerns-about-operation-onymous https://blog.torproject.org/blog/hidden-services-need-some-love

[pleaseexplainagain]

I see it as good news because:

1. as the saying goes all publicity is in the long run good news. Bitcoin needs more adopters so any publicity is good as more people might look at bitcoin as an idea the more they "hear' about it no matter how they "hear' about it. Also bitcoin is not a brand so it cannot be damaged unlike the very upset FIFA sponsors with the recent corruption allegations in world football.

2. he was using bitcoin and not fiat ie he was successfully running a commercial operation with bitcoin. This is good news. It was however found what he was connected to (drugs etc) was against the law so he is off to prison but he would have gone to prison for doing the same things using fiat.

[TPTB_need_war]

2. he was using bitcoin and not fiat ie he was successfully running a commercial operation with bitcoin. This is good news. It was however found what he was connected to (drugs etc) was against the law so he is off to prison but he would have gone to prison for doing the same things using fiat.

Bitcoin's raison d'être is to be a xerox of fiat in the sense of allowing the government to regulate commerce and legal tender? I thought Bitcoin was supposed to enable permission-less commerce.

Never mind the small details. Carry on.

[pleaseexplainagain]

2. he was using bitcoin and not fiat ie he was successfully running a commercial operation with bitcoin. This is good news. It was however found what he was connected to (drugs etc) was against the law so he is off to prison but he would have gone to prison for doing the same things using fiat.

Bitcoin's raison d'être is to be a xerox of fiat in the sense of allowing the government to regulate commerce and legal tender? I thought Bitcoin was supposed to enable permission-less commerce.

Never mind the small details. Carry on.

I do no think there has ever been "permission-less' commerce nor will there ever be. For example, governments run on tax revenue so they are always going to put things in place to collect some from commercial activities. They expect even illegal activities to declare taxable income. So if trading with Bitcoin or fiat the tax man cometh.

You are free (ie do not need permission) to set up silk road 3.0 and start trading anytime you like. By using bitcoin you can send and receive funds that do not go through permission based entities (eg banks). Just do not expect governments to do nothing, They react to fiat based activities so they will do the same for bitcoin eg in my country the tax man carries out snap audits of house painters that are doing all their jobs for cash with homeowners so they can to avoid sales and income tax.

And after the tax man comes the law enforcers. Governments are not good ie efficient or effective at controlling things but they love to do so - and will dedicate lots of resources to it. So if you take up being the new Ross then you had better be more nimble than he was.

[TPTB_need_war]

2. he was using bitcoin and not fiat ie he was successfully running a commercial operation with bitcoin. This is good news. It was however found what he was connected to (drugs etc) was against the law so he is off to prison but he would have gone to prison for doing the same things using fiat.

Bitcoin's raison d'être is to be a xerox of fiat in the sense of allowing the government to regulate commerce and legal tender? I thought Bitcoin was supposed to enable permission-less commerce.

Never mind the small details. Carry on.

I do no think there has ever been "permission-less' commerce nor will there ever be. For example, governments run on tax revenue so they are always going to put things in place to collect some from commercial activities. They expect even illegal activities to declare taxable income. So if trading with Bitcoin or fiat the tax man cometh.

You are free (ie do not need permission) to set up silk road 3.0 and start trading anytime you like. By using bitcoin you can send and receive funds that do not go through permission based entities (eg banks). Just do not expect governments to do nothing, They react to fiat based activities so they will do the same for bitcoin eg in my country the tax man carries out snap audits of house painters that are doing all their jobs for cash with homeowners so they can to avoid sales and income tax.

And after the tax man comes the law enforcers. Governments are not good ie efficient or effective at controlling things but they love to do so - and will dedicate lots of resources to it. So if you take up being the new Ross then you had better be more nimble than he was.

My point is then WTF are we creating Bitcoin for then if the permission-less quality is not that viable? (note that if the State can track you down as they did to Ross, then they can surely regulate Bitcoin and remove the permission-less quality)

So we can track ourselves in a public ledger and create the Digital Kill Switch (i.e. blacklisting individuals who the State doesn't like) that didn't exist before with cash.

My underlying motivation is I think we need a more anonymous system (and more surely decentralized so it doesn't devolve).

[alani123]

Low volume @ ~$10m and no significant changes for the price. Perhaps the news abour Ross didn't have a direct impact on the price but most likely didn't help either. Unless we're preparing for a bull run.

[syuhide]

First time silk road went down dates back to 23 June 2013. Back then, many claimed that the backlash bitcoin received through major media in addition with the news of one of the biggest bitcoin marketplaces going down had a direct effect in bitcoin's price. The price kept falling from $128 on June 23 to the low of $70 on July 7. Another key point on Silk Road's story was its resurrection. Silk Road 2.0 was opened on November 6 2013 and it seemed that the rally that had begun prior to that sped up its pace after Silk Road's reopening.

Could the recent events have a notable impact on the price?

alas what he did was innovative but the contents he used to flood the site was bad...
the soul theme of bitcoin is to be anonymous and this anonymous nature tempts to do illegal things..
i felt sad when i herd of him...this could have happen to any guy who is just fast and wanna earn fast being anonymous..
i am with him..

[oser41eric]

The end of a long, long road and an important part of Bitcoin's history. That's all it is - history.

To you and us it is just history, to him his family and anyone believed in what he was doing it is devastating times and will be for the rest of their days. Nope this news has done nothing on the price because all/most of the coins have already been sold of by govt. Think there is only 30-50k left for auction.

This was an expected outcome: Ross got life because when it comes to money creation and drug dealing, the US government hates competition so it's bad news for him. But unfortunately for him Bitcoin just sees him this way    Sorry Ross

There we have it folks  Competition is not something they take to well. Add that they had planned a heist and make a few hundred million and take down a competitor, they done good. After all that they could have gave him 20years and would still have been punishment after everything stole from him.

[gentlemand]

The end of a long, long road and an important part of Bitcoin's history. That's all it is - history.

To you and us it is just history, to him his family and anyone believed in what he was doing it is devastating times and will be for the rest of their days. Nope this news has done nothing on the price because all/most of the coins have already been sold of by govt. Think there is only 30-50k left for auction.

I agree, but the original question refers to how sentencing might affect price and nothing more.

There was never any reason why it should.

[oser41eric]

The end of a long, long road and an important part of Bitcoin's history. That's all it is - history.

To you and us it is just history, to him his family and anyone believed in what he was doing it is devastating times and will be for the rest of their days. Nope this news has done nothing on the price because all/most of the coins have already been sold of by govt. Think there is only 30-50k left for auction.

I agree, but the original question refers to how sentencing might affect price and nothing more.

There was never any reason why it should.

Can you not read where I answered the OPs question? Here I will make bold where I answered it to the best of my ability knowledge   Basically the only news that would have affected the price was when/if there was coins involved, not this news where there was no coins involved just someone being sent to prison will obviously have no affect on the price why would it, it is neither good nor bad news only for him and his family is it bad. Thanks

[Hunyadi]

That's a good question. I'm not sure whether they ever explicitly answered that. Considering he kept incriminating text file journals on his laptop it's possible he would've kept the coins unencrypted or even wrote the password somewhere there too. That's why they were so desperate to catch him with it operating. 

I was wondering that perhaps they offered him lesser punishment if he gave them the keys but then didn't keep their word.

I was thinking the same.

[TerraMaster]

He got what he deserves. I don't think his issues will effect BTC beyond the damage already done to BTC image by him. Thanks Ross, hope you enjoyed it while it lasted. Good riddance to ya and the rest that would aspire to be like you.

[mrhelpful]

Man our law system is wack, how does one go to life sentence when he didnt physically rape/murder someone.

As for the price comment, should have no effect. Its a shame though this fellow didnt get away with what bankers do every 5 years.

[techgeek]

If this did really effect bitcoin, I lost all faith in it.

How can someones life effect the price, unless it was someone we all know like satoshi.

[spazzdla]

It's definitely bad news for him. Life and maximum security to boot.

This was a foregone conclusion from the moment he was arrested anyway.

The judge is a stooge, his own lawyer an ass and even those who were working to catch him were corrupt as fuck.

Murica 

^^ This.  I think everyone expected the land of the slaves to ensure slaves are punished for disobeying.

[spazzdla]

Does anyone know how on earth did the LEs get that many bitcoins out from ross? Was ross seriously such an imbecile that he used some super weak password or had his coins unencrypted?

Torture, the threat of torture, the threat of decimating his entire family.

100% this is what went down.

Having your flesh ripped off slowly while they feed you via the ass and keep you bound in insane positions is wildly effective.  Insanely barbaric but effective.  MERICA.

[spazzdla]

Man our law system is wack, how does one go to life sentence when he didnt physically rape/murder someone.

As for the price comment, should have no effect. Its a shame though this fellow didnt get away with what bankers do every 5 years.

This is what happens when central bankers run your country / (the planet).

[afbitcoins]

Ross was stitched up and presumed guilty before trial. Don mess with facist USA. War on drugs man. Its a war

[alani123]

I feel like this topic served it's purpose. Ross being convicted to life is not news anymore, topic locked.