Silk Road Reloaded launches, but not on Tor

[poledriver]

A new version of Silk Road has appeared on the darkweb, but it doesn't rely on Tor or Bitcoin. Silk Road Reloaded uses the little-known I2P anonymity network and accepts a range of cryptocurrencies including the meme-inspired Dogecoin.

The site, which has no relation to the two previous versions of Silk Road, is one of a series of copycat marketplaces trying to tap into the lucrative online trade in drugs and other illegal items. Silk Road Reloaded has been in development for a year and can only be accessed using the I2P anonymity software.

I2P, which has been around since 2003, works in a similar way to the more widely used Tor network and hides what people are looking at online. Unlike conventional websites, all I2P sites ends in .i2p. A "clearnet" version of Silk Road Reloaded can also be accessed from normal browsers.

Unlike many online marketplaces that only accept Bitcoin or a limited range of cryptocurrencies, Silk Road Reloaded claims to accept pretty much any form of payment. Bitcoin, Anoncoin, Litecoin, and Dogecoin are all accepted, with transactions being converted into Bitcoin before being processed.

Dozens of copycat marketplaces have cropped up on the darknet trying to cash in on Silk Road's success. The alleged founder of the original Silk Road, Ross Ulbricht, AKA Dread Pirate Roberts, is soon to face trial in New York. During the site's lifespan, more than one million transactions were made, totaling $1.2 billion. It is estimated that Dread Pirate Roberts took $80 million in commissions from these transactions. Both Silk Road and Silk Road 2.0 have been shut down by the FBI.

The founder of Silk Road Reloaded has been promoting the new site on reddit, but people have criticized the site for trying to cash in on the Silk Road name. One user said that nobody would touch a website named Silk Road "with a ten foot pole."

This story originally appeared on Wired UK.

With comments -

http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2015/01/silk-road-reloaded-launches-but-not-on-tor/

 

[Burnt Offerings]

One user said that nobody would touch a website named Silk Road "with a ten foot pole."

SR is probably the most well known name on the dark net, so a lot of people will probably gravitate towards it, I'd expect. Wasn't SR2 doing more business than SR1 was, at it's peak?

 

[my3rdeye]

SR is probably the most well known name on the dark net, so a lot of people will probably gravitate towards it, I'd expect. Wasn't SR2 doing more business than SR1 was, at it's peak?

No one but the admins of those two sites can tell you that, for sure not a guy who writes for Wired. A journalist can only compare the number of listings on each. Even the police when they say SR 1 did a billion in business are just guessing.
I would never use one of these sites unless it can prove it can stay up for more than a few months. I am in no hurry to lose money when the next big thing gets shut down because the sites founders decided to advertise instead of keeping it even a little bit quiet. They already fucked up already IMO because people are talking about it on Wired. My clearnet source existed since 2001 and has zero posts about him on Reddit. The two things are related. I keep seeing these places tell everyone and then get shut down faster and faster each time. It seems to me like none of them really know what they are doing and the P2P thing or whatever it's called is another encryption fad. The police are probably already moderators there, why bother cracking it when they can just get a job there?

 

[pill_billy]

^ yea the feds are able to track your IP with no problem on tor network thats why their switching over to i2p... and from what ive read the site is up but doesnt have any listings yet

 

[Burnt Offerings]

No one but the admins of those two sites can tell you that, for sure not a guy who writes for Wired. A journalist can only compare the number of listings on each. Even the police when they say SR 1 did a billion in business are just guessing.
I would never use one of these sites unless it can prove it can stay up for more than a few months. I am in no hurry to lose money when the next big thing gets shut down because the sites founders decided to advertise instead of keeping it even a little bit quiet. They already fucked up already IMO because people are talking about it on Wired. My clearnet source existed since 2001 and has zero posts about him on Reddit. The two things are related. I keep seeing these places tell everyone and then get shut down faster and faster each time. It seems to me like none of them really know what they are doing and the P2P thing or whatever it's called is another encryption fad. The police are probably already moderators there, why bother cracking it when they can just get a job there?

The transient nature of something like a dark net market doesn't really seem like a big deal to me, that's just the nature of the illegal drug world in general, and especially when it's "out in the open" like that. When a market gets shut down people just move to another one...all they are is platforms to sell goods, I don't really see any reason why they need be stable presences. There's always the chance that you'll get ripped off/lose money of course, but again, that's a facet of the world of illegal drugs in general.

 

[pill_billy]

The transient nature of something like a dark net market doesn't really seem like a big deal to me, that's just the nature of the illegal drug world in general, and especially when it's "out in the open" like that. When a market gets shut down people just move to another one...all they are is platforms to sell goods, I don't really see any reason why they need be stable presences. There's always the chance that you'll get ripped off/lose money of course, but again, that's a facet of the world of illegal drugs in general.

well when the gov made their buys from the first silk road they made 45 buys and got what they paid for 44 times.... also thats why they had an escorw system in place and the site wouldnt release the money until both the seller and buyer were satisfied, or until the site thought that the seller had done all they could...

 

[SmokingAces]

His story seems to have gaping big holes in it to be fair. It would seem likely it was indeed him running it all along to me. Unfortunately he choose to do so from the USA where prison systems are big business. He'll get 30 years or something :O

 

[Jabberwocky]

The transient nature of something like a dark net market doesn't really seem like a big deal to me, that's just the nature of the illegal drug world in general, and especially when it's "out in the open" like that. When a market gets shut down people just move to another one...all they are is platforms to sell goods, I don't really see any reason why they need be stable presences. There's always the chance that you'll get ripped off/lose money of course, but again, that's a facet of the world of illegal drugs in general.

Perhaps his point is that when you use these sites sometime money can be invested in them, either while in escrow or otherwise, and if the site get shut down you lose that money. And people can have significant amounts invested, either because of a pending sale or otherwise.

The point that all the chit chat on the www, especially well known places like Wired (remember that original story with a link to SR1 or whatnot that appeared on Wired not too long before they got DEA'ed and all DLE upped) and posts on Reddit, or even on BL (although a lot of not most people are much more discretionary given the policy forbidding posts about sourcing etc) and The 'phile (probably more discretionary than BL about such matters, but given the nature of the site it does draw a few that do stupid shit like spelling out the whole thing of SR1 well prior to it getting busted).

Of course I doubt posts about SR1 and similar orgs on BL or the 'phile have played much if any role in the bust of SR1(&2), but all the attention of the media on it, especially in the wake of that fucking Wired article (at least I think it was from wired, my memory is kinda jumbled ATM), definitely did.

And true, thanks to prohibition and the WOD buying illegal drugs or goods from any source inherently involves some very real risk(s). But when everyone is talking about someone that is a source for such goods, DLE is bounce to fuck shit up. However, at the same time, pretty much everything we do involves some degree of risk. It'd just that, given the inherent quality of risk in the world and our lives, one needs to use one's head!

For instance, I'm not comparing buying heroin to walking across the street in terms of risk. The point is that, just like I wouldn't walk into the street right in front of some car doing 45mph (where I'd get hit and almost certainly die or at best get myself into another coma), I wouldn't buy heroin from some place that everyone and their grandma is talking about (risking losing money at best, getting arrested and losing what little freedom I have in this world).

What I was trying to say is something, although I'll just be paraphrasing here, that Thou said to me once years ago: The mind is a powerful force for keeping yourself safe and healthy. Use you mind for your own good, and fuck those who say otherwise and tell you you can't. Man, I wish I could remember his exact words. It was very powers at the time for me. And I think it will always be. If you read this somewhere somehow, much love to you Thou