📖 Bitcoin History — The Silk Road In 2011, Ross Ulbricht launched the Silk Road — an anonymous online marketplace running on Tor and Bitcoin. It became famous for drug sales, but also sold books, art, and legal goods. For the first time, Bitcoin had a real use case with real demand. Its price pumped. It also gave Bitcoin its "dark web drug money" reputation it's still shaking off today. The FBI shut it down in 2013. They arrested Ulbricht and eventually seized 144,000 BTC. Ross is currently serving two life sentences without parole — a sentence many Bitcoiners consider excessive. He was recently pardoned by President Trump in 2025. #Bitcoin #Nostr #Cypherpunk