In 2011, a 27 year old Ross Ulbricht created the Silk Road, a website on the dark web that allowed buyers and sellers to access the site and make transactions anonymously. From 2011 to 2013, over 1.2 million transactions occurred, generating over 9.5 million Bitcoins. Most of the transactions involved illegal drugs.

In 2015 Ross was given a life sentence in federal prison for creating and operating the Silk Road. Many people contend that the sentence was overly harsh based on his lack of prior criminal history. There are also people that believe Ross wasn’t guilty of anything at all. He created a platform based on his belief that people should be able to live without common governmental restrictions, and people used the platform as they saw fit. How can he be responsible for the actions of others?

On this episode, we examine the motivations behind his creation and we examine Ross.

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