Silk Road was operated by the pseudonymous 'Dread Pirate Roberts' (named after the fictional character from The Princess Bride), who was known for espousing libertarian ideals and criticizing regulation. The name 'Silk Road' comes from a historical network of trade routes started during the Han Dynasty (206 BCE – 220 CE) between Europe, India, China, and many other countries on the Afro-Eurasian landmass. The website was launched in February 2011 development had begun six months prior. In 2015, Ulbricht was convicted in federal court for multiple charges related to operating Silk Road and was given two life sentences without possibility of parole. Silk Road 2.0 came online the next month, run by former site administrators, but was shut down the following year as part of Operation Onymous. In October 2013, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) shut down Silk Road and arrested Ulbricht. Between February 2011 and July 2013, the site facilitated sales amounting to 9,519,664 Bitcoins. The website was known for its illegal drug marketplace, among other illegal and legal product listings. All transactions were conducted with bitcoin, a cryptocurrency which aided in protecting user identities. As part of the dark web, Silk Road operated as a hidden service on the Tor network, allowing users to buy and sell products and services between each other anonymously. He ran the entire marketplace on his personal laptop, which was seized by the FBI on October 1, 2013.

It was launched in 2011 by its American founder Ross Ulbricht under the pseudonym ' Dread Pirate Roberts'.

Silk Road was an online black market and the first modern darknet market. Silk Road 2.0 shut down by FBI and Europol on 6 November 2014. New URL: silkroad7rn2puhj.onion (defunct) Old URL: silkroad6ownowfk.onion (defunct) Ross Ulbricht ( pseudonym Dread Pirate Roberts)

Ayyubid slik road