It's still fresh to me, in my mind especially because I sort of just found out myself (county vacation), and I was thinking to myself that these groups and individuals that are orchestrating this movement we have... this thing i've observed... It stands wholly and entirely against American philosophies and principals. For Alpha Bay it was fentanyl overdoses, for Silk Road it was murder for hire but these are the justifications that sound honorable for America running full force as the leader of the opposition and charging/convicting. Those reasons definitely make sense to the typical brainwashed citizen anyways... Never mind that not only are these markets creating a new currency, but they are acting like a means of networking for cybercriminals, the modern day cowboy pistoled up with a computer, vpn, and a drop. The point is at least don't just forget about these guys and let their lives just end because the letter boys won a skirmish... Remember Ross Ulbricht, creator of Silk Road (currently doing life without parole in federal prison.) Remember Alexandre Cazes, who was found dead in his cell via suicide in regards to being charged with charges regards trafficking and such as alleged founder of Alpha Bay. These two gentlemen, prior to their arrests were self made millionaires in their early 20's... Regardless of what accusations are placed there is no reason these mens lives needed to be cut short... It's all so crazy when you look at big pictures... even how they caught Ross is insane.. the federal agents had a hard drive copy USB stick type of device they inserted (i would assume illegally...) into Ross's laptop as he was distracted by the ruse other agents performed to distract him. I guess my point is we're living in some pretty interesting times, and I'm not sure that those being pointed out as bad, criminal, etc. really are when you look at everything. That these men are pioneers and lessons should be learned so those who need can sharpen their tools and stay moves ahead in this cat and mouse game where the cat is government agencies primally US drug agencies... The future is now, and get right or get left.
What are the American philosophies and principles you're referring to you? The darknet market are ideologically probably the closest to Benjamin Tucker and Lysander Spooner, but they were radicals in American ideologies.
Not really ignoring the fact that BTC serves roles outside of the darknet. BTC lacks the price stability to actually be considered a currency, Listings are based off of value in relation to either the US dollar or the Euro. BTC is just the medium of exchange. For security reasons it isn't even the best anymore Monero would be better.
Albeit I'm much more sympathetic to Ulbricht than Cazes. They knew full well the risks. Cazes wasn't a Free Market supporting computer geek, He's been wanted for Arms Trafficking since he was 18 and he was a thief. He's made a lot of mistakes which he is only to blame for.