🚨THE SILK ROAD $800 BILLION $BTC MOVE :$800 BILLION in #BTC once moved through a website run from a laptop in a public library.
The person behind it was a 26-year-old physics graduate named Ross Ulbricht.
In 2011 he launched a site called Silk Road, operating online under the alias “Dread Pirate Roberts.”
The platform quickly became one of the most talked-about marketplaces on the early internet, where transactions were made using Bitcoin.
At its peak, around 9.5 million Bitcoin moved through the site. At today’s prices that would be worth more than $800 billion.
Authorities spent years investigating the operation.
According to reports, investigators eventually linked Ross to the platform after he reused an online username connected to his personal email on different forums.
In 2013 he was arrested in a San Francisco public library.
Investigators reportedly created a distraction behind him so they could grab his laptop before it was closed or locked.
The device was allegedly logged in to the administrator account connected to the marketplace.
Ulbricht was later sentenced to two life sentences plus 40 years without parole.
After serving 11 years in prison, he received a full presidential pardon in January 2025.
Not long after his release, someone anonymously sent him 300 Bitcoin, worth roughly $31 million.
Today, the story is often discussed as one of the most famous chapters in early Bitcoin and internet history.