from
Nicholas
Mross’s
documentary The Rise and Rise of
Bitcoin (2014), shared with the author.
207 Mark Karpeles assured his users
that the problems were due to the
volume of trade: Vitalik Buterin,
“The
Bitcoin
Crash:
An
Examination,” Bitcoin Magazine, April
13,
2013,
https://bitcoinmagazine.com/4113/the-
bitcoin-crash-an-examination/.
CHAPTER 21
211 “For the time being, Bitcoin is in
many ways”: Felix Salmon, “The
Bitcoin Bubble and the Future of
Currency,”
News
Genius,
http://genius.com/Felix-salmon-
the-bitcoin-bubble-and-the-future-
of-currency-annotated.
211 finally went public in the New York Times: Nathaniel Popper and Peter Lattman, “Never Mind
Facebook;
Winklevoss
Twins
Rule in Digital Money,” New York
Times,
April
11,
2013,
http://dealbook
.nytimes.com/2013/04/11/as-big-
investors-emerge-bitcoin-gets-
ready-for-its-close-up/?_r=0.
211 a national television station in China
broadcast
a
half-hour
segment: The May 3, 2013,
segment
is
available
at
http://jingji.cntv.cn/2013/05/03/VIDE1367596319388137.shtml.
211 $2 million into BitPay: The
announcement is available at
http://www
.marketwatch.com/story/bitpay-
raises-2-million-led-by-founders-
fund-2013-05-16.
212 $5 million into Coinbase: The
announcement is available at
https://www.usv.com/post/coinbase.
213 Mark was sued in a Seattle court by CoinLab: Complaint filed by
Coin-Lab against Mt. Gox on May
2, 2013, in United States District
Court for the Western District of
Washington.
213 money
in
Mt.
Gox’s
two
American bank accounts—some
$5 million—was seized: Romain
Dillet, “Feds Seize Another $2.1
Million from Mt. Gox, Adding Up
to $5 Million,” TechCrunch,
August
23,
2013,
http://techcrunch.com/2013/08/23/feds-
seize-another-2-1-million-from-
mt-gox-adding-up-to-5-million/.
CHAPTER 22
218 federal prosecutors arrested the
operators of Liberty Reserve:
Information on the arrest is
available
at
http://www.justice.gov/usao/nys/press
releases/May13/LibertyReservePR.php.
218 the top financial regulator in
California
sent
the
Bitcoin
Foundation: The letter was posted
by the executive director of the
foundation
at
http://www.forbes.com/sites/jonmatonis/2013/06/23/bitcoin-foundation-receives-cease-and-
desist-order-from-california/.
224 announced a few days after
Charlie shut down BitInstant: Erik
Voorhees to BTCF, July 17, 2013.
225 one-millionth registered account:
Eileen
Ormsby,
Silk
Road
(Sydney:
Pan
Macmillan
Australia, 2014).
225 commissions collected by the site
often approached over $10,000 a
day: RUTE GX 250.
225 Ross agreed to pay $100,000 up
front: RUTE GX 241.
226 “Don’t want to be a pain here”: Sealed complaint against Ross
Ulbricht filed by FBI Special
Agent
Christopher
Tarbell,
September 27, 2013.
226 paid for with 3,000 Bitcoins, or roughly $500,000: Letter opposing
Ross Ulbricht’s release on bail,
filed by Assistant United States
Attorney Serrin Turner, November
20, 2013. These alleged murders
and the chats between Ross and
redandwhite
were
discussed
during Ross Ulbricht’s trial, but
Ross was not charged with any
counts of murder for hire and
Canadian police never found any
evidence of any suspicious deaths
during this time that might be tied
to Ross.
227 He moved out of his friend’s
apartment
in
June:
Sealed
complaint against Ross Ulbricht
filed by FBI Special Agent
Christopher Tarbell, September
27, 2013.
227 “encrypt and backup important
files”:
Letter
opposing
Ross
Ulbricht’s release on bail, filed by
Assistant United States Attorney
Serrin Turner, November 20,
2013.
228 “Without going into details, the stress of being”: Dread Pirate
Roberts to Silk Road forum,
September 20, 2013.
228 Ross assigned Variety Jones:
RUTE GX 241.
228 When agents knocked on the
door: Sealed complaint against
Ross Ulbricht filed by FBI Special
Agent
Christopher
Tarbell,
September 27, 2013.
229 Ross
changed
apartments:
Thomas Kiernan, RUTT, January
22, 2013.
CHAPTER 23
238 opened
350,000
free
Blockchain.info wallets: Data on
wallets
available
at
https://blockchain.info/charts/my-
wallet-n-users.
240 At a Bitcoin Meetup in July 2013,
two hundred: Information on the
meetups
is
available
at
http://www.meetup.com/bitcoin-
Argentina/.
241 “You don’t have to be battling”: Jose Crettaz, “Bitcoin: Fiebre
argentina por la máquina de dinero
digital,” La Nación, June 30, 2013,
http://www.lanacion.com.ar/1596773-
bitcoin-pasion-argentina-por-la-
nueva-maquina-de-hacer-billetes-
digitales.
241 the peso was down some 25
percent: Historical data on the two
different exchange rates available
at http://dolarblue.net/historico/.
CHAPTER 24
245 wobbling out of control in late September: All details in this
paragraph are from RUTE GS
241.
245 “I have poison oak rash”: RUTE
GX 325.
246 The next day he spent the
morning working: Jered Der-
Yeghiayan, RUTT, January 14,
2015.
246 He headed to the far side of the library: RUTE GX 128H.
246 “sure,
someone
could
stand
behind you”: RUTE GX 225B.
247 “dread: im ok, you?”: RUTE GX
129C.
247 There were 25,689 orders in
transit: Numbers are taken from a
screen shot of Ross’s computer on
the day of his arrest; it was
submitted by the government as
evidence before Ross’s trial.
247 This was the signal that cirrus had: Jered Der-Yeghiayan, RUTT,
January 14, 2015.
248 “I’m so sick of you,” the woman shouted: David Kushner, “Dead
End on Silk Road: Internet Crime
Kingpin Ross Ulbricht’s Big Fall,”
Rolling Stone, February 4, 2014, http://www.rollingstone.com/culture/news/dead-end-on-silk-road-internet-crime-
kingpin-ross-ulbrichts-big-fall-
20140204.
248 As Ross turned around to see
what was: Thomas Kiernan,
RUTT, January 22, 2013.
248 did so by searching on Google
through old: Gary Alford, RUTT,