Silk Road launched in February 2011 was an online black market and the first modern darknet market, where buyers and sellers of illegal or unethical items could transact anonymously. The marketplace was founded by Ross Ulbricht, can only be accessed by Tor browser.
Silk Road is often cited as the first true “use case” of bitcoin. It proved that fully decentralized digital money could be used for online transaction.
Ulbricht was sentenced to a double life sentence plus forty years without the possibility of parole. Ulbricht was convicted of conspiracy to commit money laundering, computer hacking, fraudulent identity documents.
Ross Ulbricht, recently announced that he is auctioning his line of NFTs. The Ethereum-based digital collection, dubbed the Ross Ulbricht Genesis Collection, details various aspect of Ulbricht’s life, from his childhood to his nine years in prison.
The NFT drop is a unique collection of writings and handmade art, including comic books, artworks depicting scenes from his court trial, an original animation made by the digital artist, Levitate, with a voiceover by Ulbricht himself, which his supporters had minted into NFTs.
Ulbricht said
With this NFT, I see a chance to make a difference where it really counts: in the lives of kids who did not ask for any of this. There is a lot we can do with the proceeds of this auction, but one idea I am committed to is to help kids travel to visit their moms and dads in prison.”
Auction of the Ross Ulbricht Genesis Collection, began on Dec 2 at an Art Basel event in Miami and will run until Dec. 8. The art can be viewed and purchased on the curated NFT marketplace SuperRare. Current bid is 666.0 ETH, worth about $2.8 million.
“As I face that future, my eventual old age and death in this cage, I find myself looking for meaning and purpose. Why am I here? What good can I do with the time I have left and from where I am? I hope that helping my fellow prisoners through my art is one way,” he wrote in a Medium post announcing the NFT launch.
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