5 liens privรฉs
Earlier this month the FBI arrested the alleged ringleader of Silk Road, an online bazaar that allowed users to buy and sell illegal drugs (among other things), ending its life on the Webโa life that was surprisingly long, considering what was going on there. At the time many people suspected this would have the domino effect of bringing down Bitcoin, a digital โcrypto-currencyโ created, traded, and held entirely within a decentralized computer network. Bitcoin is anonymous and untraceable, thanks to the way the code is written, and many people thought its predominant use was in Silk Roadโlike tokens you buy in an arcade, except you trade them for drugs instead of turns playing an obnoxiously loud pinball machine. Indeed the virtual currencyโs value dropped by about a third soon after the Silk Road bust, falling from $145 to $110.