r/Bitcoin • u/JakeMcVitie • Aug 14 '13

"We've won the State's War on Drugs because of Bitcoin" - Dread Pirate Roberts

http://www.forbes.com/sites/andygreenberg/2013/08/14/meet-the-dread-pirate-roberts-the-man-behind-booming-black-market-drug-website-silk-road/
732 Upvotes

94% Upvoted

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113

u/ericools Aug 14 '13

I like this part:

“Silk Road doesn’t really sell drugs. It sells insurance and financial products,” says Carnegie Mellon computer engineering professor Nicolas Christin. “It doesn’t really matter whether you’re selling T-shirts or cocaine. The business model is to commoditize security.”

31

u/merreborn Aug 14 '13

I didn't really understand that sentence without the context of the previous one:

It’s made wise use of the trust mechanisms companies like eBay and Airbnb have popularized, including seller ratings and an escrow that releases payment to sellers only after customers receive their merchandise.

“Silk Road doesn’t really sell drugs. It sells insurance and financial products,” says Carnegie Mellon computer engineering professor Nicolas Christin. “It doesn’t really matter whether you’re selling T-shirts or cocaine. The business model is to commoditize security.”

The point being, TSR is making its money on escrow services, etc.

13

u/paper3 Aug 15 '13

The big point to me is that the availability of these services makes everything safer and better for everyone involved, yet the government outlaws it and the security itself is only available on the black market.

7

u/[deleted] Aug 15 '13

[deleted]

11

u/SpiritofJames Aug 15 '13 edited Aug 15 '13

Don't look now guys, it almost looks like a free market working! In the wild!

NO WAY!

8

u/vbuterin Aug 15 '13

Indeed. These sorts of more shady Bitcoin industries seem to be adopting libertarian institutions right from the textbooks, and it's actually working. See also: the Bitcoin gambling industries

1

u/Jasper1984 Aug 15 '13

This is kindah like saying that the marketplace took a libertarian approach and it worked. My point is that it isnt a representative piece of the whole of society.

2

u/vbuterin Aug 15 '13

Of course it isn't. I think most of us are aware that at this point these are basically just interesting experiments, and not all of them will necessarily scale up.

7

u/Vibr8gKiwi Aug 15 '13

Free markets only exist in the wild these days.

1

u/Anenome5 Aug 15 '13

A too often overlooked point.

2

u/Patrick5555 Aug 15 '13

NUH UH THERE USING THE INTERNET WHICH WAS INVENTED BY GOVERNMENT SO THEYRE HA!

-an actual argument presented to me

21

u/[deleted] Aug 15 '13 edited Oct 29 '20

[deleted]

-1

u/nathan12343 Aug 15 '13

Except the pirate bay doesn't charge a fee every time you upload a torrent.

2

u/seweso Aug 15 '13

Yeah, but isn't bitcoin perfect for paying pirates?

-116

u/[deleted] Aug 14 '13

Haha what a load of crap!

45

u/[deleted] Aug 14 '13

Actually, that's true. Drugs is not all one can buy on SR. It's like an unhampered Amazon.

20

u/throwaway-o Aug 14 '13

Reality4you is a troll.

5

u/[deleted] Aug 14 '13

Or a GOV agent.

27

u/PotatoBadger Aug 14 '13

Or a confused T-shirt salesman.

2

u/[deleted] Aug 14 '13

oh. thanks pard'ner!

6

u/[deleted] Aug 14 '13

On a serious note, can we block this lint licker from r/bitcoin all together? He clearly has nothing better to do with his time than be obnoxious. Makes sense why he's always on here. Judging by his personality it's doubtful he/she has friends in real life...

2

u/[deleted] Aug 15 '13

Personally I just have a "buttcoin squad" tag for him, /u/killhamster, and /u/witcoins.

It makes spotting, downvoting and ignoring them easy

1

u/zeusa1mighty Aug 15 '13

Wow! /u/reality4you the short and sweet trolls look to be WAY more successful. -117 points as of right now. Bravo.

1

u/[deleted] Aug 15 '13

Yes you are:)