Silkroad’s DPR 2.0 enters ‘exile’

The administrator of the second iteration of drug marketplace Silkroad, Dread Pirate Roberts, (DPR) has entered “exile” according to another of the site's admins, DefCon, who in a lengthy blog post over the weekend talked about the problems that was causing, as well as the solutions his team had come up with to fix them.

DPR, the same moniker used by the admin of the original Silkroad, currently believed by the authorities to be Ross Ulbricht, disappeared from the new site after a single post on the forum saying he would soon release information on the arrest of several alleged Silkroad employees. Since then no word has been heard from him, leaving staff like Defcon in a difficult position, because he took the key for unlocked Silkroad's bitcoin cold storage with him.

This means that for now, any bitcoins stored in Silkroad's escrow system while it was down over the Christmas period, are unreachable by anyone, including Silkroad admins. However, Defcon has assured members in a forum post that all staff working on the site would not be receiving a salary until all escrow bitcoins were returned to members. Fortunately though, Defcon believes this won't be a necessary step for very long, since he is certain that DPR will make his triumphant return shortly.

Silkroad was down over the Christmas period, but is now live and kicking again

Also moving forward, new security measures have been put into place. Firstly, the “cold storage” system, which has the majority of SR's bitcoins stored in offline computers, will allow for multiple admins to access them, thus preventing any further problems with DPR or other moderator disappearances.

There will also be the option for no-escrow listings; as Defcon puts it: “a truly free market.” However, this will be the equivalent of finalising early and therefore gives no protection to the buyer when putting money down, since it goes straight to the vendor before the product has even been sent. It will however mean bypassing Silkroad fees, so theoretically could allow for cheaper pricing, benefiting the trustworthy and the trustful.

Defcon also addressed his relative anonymity and the fact that trust in him as an admin will have to be earned. He's ready for that:

“I intend to prove to you that leading this movement forward is my top priority in life, and that I will pour any time and energy necessary into ensuring its success.”You may not always see me here under this name but I am completely committed to ensuring this movement's immortality.”

KitGuru Says: As usual, KitGuru doesn't recommend you visit any darknet sites, but if you do, make sure you have the right address as there's lots of scammers out there with phishing links that would love your login and personal details.

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