Silk Road was an online black market, best known as a platform for selling illegal drugs. As part of the Deep Web,[4] it was operated as a Tor hidden service, such that online users were able to browse it anonymously and securely without potential traffic monitoring. The website launched in February 2011; development had begun six months prior.[5][6]
Initially there were a limited number of new seller accounts available; new sellers had to purchase an account via an auction. Later, a fixed fee was charged for each new seller account.[7][8]
In 2013 the FBI shut down the website[9] and arrested one Ross William Ulbricht under charges of being the site pseudonymous founder "Dread Pirate Roberts".[2] On 6 November 2013 Silk Road 2.0 came online, run by former administrators of Silk Road.[10] It too was shut down and the alleged operator arrested on 6 November 2014 as part of the so-called "Operation Onymous".