Before it was finally shutdown by the FBI in early October this year, it was known as the eBay for illicit drugs.

Yes, Silk Road was the boldest of online black markets, where the majority of users traded in banned narcotics such as Ecstasy, Opioids, and Cannabis, using the electronic currency, Bitcoin, which ensured them anonymity. Exactly how successful was Silk Road, you may ask? According to conservative estimates, the annual sales from the website totalled at a whopping $15 million.

Silk Road launched in February 2011 and was only accessible through the Tor software that allowed anonymous browsing, eliminating any fear of being tracked. The website, which was named after the historic trade route that connects numerous Afro-Eurasian nations, was launched by a man held in some regard by many in the internet community, especially for his views which were considered to be radical and libertarian. This anonymous operator was only known by the alias of ‘The Dread Pirate Roberts’, a name he chose from the swashbuckling comedy, The Princess Bride (1987).

Although his views were libertarian, to his credit, The Dread Pirate Roberts applied certain restrictions to Silk Road, banning trade on items such as child pornography, stolen credit cards, and weapons of mass destruction, while also outlawing services such as assassinations. He also wrote of his desire to end "violence, coercion, and all forms of force." These rules, as his followers were to soon discover, were drenched in irony.

When The Dread Pirate Roberts was finally arrested, the FBI revealed him to be a 29-year old man named Ross William Ulbricht. He was nabbed by at least five federal officers at a public library, in a scene that was surprisingly quiet. What was equally surprising was the FBI’s allegation that Ulbricht had hired contract killers to murder two people, a fact that was at odds with Ulbricht’s pacifist online persona.

Ross William Ulbricht was also officially charged with being the head honcho behind Silk Road. The FBI stated that Ross William Ulbricht, in spite of having employees, was a bit of a control freak, taking it upon himself to hide the identities of the buyers and sellers, as well as the operators of Silk Road.

So it was a cruel twist of fate, that Ulbricht was nailed by the authorities because he had been unable to hide his own identity. Interestingly enough, he had been traced due to amateur mistakes, rather than lack of efficient programming skill, or flaws in the Tor software. When Ulbricht advertised online in search for ‘Bitcoin IT professionals’, he presented the email address, ‘rossulbricht@gmail.com’. Unfortunately for him, these posts directed the readers to a very suspicious, ‘silkroad420.wordpress.com’.

If that wasn’t enough to set the FBI sniffing in his direction, the Google+ profile linked to rossulbricht@gmail.com, included a list of favourite videos from a website which carried a user profile from a certain Ross Ulbricht as well as numerous Dread Pirate Roberts postings regarding Silk Road.

In another incident, on the ‘StackOverflow’ website, which is a Q&A website for programmers, posting under the name of Ross Ulbricht, with the email rossulbricht@gmail.com, he allegedly asked suspicious questions about connecting to the hidden Tor service.

Less than a minute after this posting, the username was changed to ‘frosty’, perhaps because Ulbricht realised his mistake. And weeks later, most likely due to paranoia, Ulbricht returned to the website to change his email from rossulbricht@gmail.com to frosty@frosty.com. Perhaps rather than frosty, a more appropriate name for Ulbricht would have been ‘sloppy’.

Certainly it was paranoia which led to Ulbricht’s downfall. Allegedly, Ulbricht’s first target for murder was an employee of Silk Road, who Ulbricht apparently felt he could not trust with the criminal workings of the organisation. Meanwhile, Ulbricht’s second target was a man who had hacked into Silk Road, and was threatening to reveal the identities of the thousands of users, unless paid off with a hefty sum.

As a criminal complaint reveals, an undercover agent who had gained the Silk Road boss’s trust through cocaine dealings online, was reportedly asked by Ulbricht if he would like to straighten out an employee who had scammed users on Silk Road, “I’d like him [the employee] beat up, then forced to send the Bitcoins he stole back. Like sit him down at his computer and make him do it.”

After news of Ulbricht’s shocking arrest spread like wildfire throughout the internet community, many were left speculating over the future of Bitcoin with the closure of the Silk Road. Bitcoin, the revolutionary crypto currency had earlier reached heights in its valuation, which boosted its profile to the point where it was being regularly discussed in prominent newspapers such as The Washington Post, The New York Times, and The Financial Times.

Bitcoin’s success was credited to its independence from banking institutions. This independence created confidence amongst those who blamed the financial establishments for the state of the world economy. The fact that Bitcoin is detached from the meddling hands of any government, it inevitably became the natural currency of choice in shady marketplaces such as Silk Road. One analyst even speculated that 1 in 20 Bitcoins was spent on the internet black market.

Analysts however, had given too much credit to Silk Road as the reason for Bitcoin’s high valuation. Although Bitcoin depreciated after Silk Road’s closure, fears that the event would permanently dent the currency have since proven to be unfounded.

At the biggest exchange, Mt.Gox, the currency recently hit a high of nearly $200, which was an impressive recovery after the currency’s loss of value. This certainly wasn’t a surprise for the editor of digital currency website CoinDesk, Emily Spaven, “If anything, the fall of Silk Road has done Bitcoin a favour. Hopefully now that the website no longer exists, people will start to see Bitcoin in a more positive light and appreciate the numerous benefits it offers.”

As things stand now, it seems that although it was the end of the road for Ulbricht’s Silk Road, Bitcoin’s future is still paved with gold.