“In 2013, Ross Ulbricht was hunted down by a SWAT team while sitting in a San Francisco library. He was arrested for making half a billion dollars running Silk Road, a “dark web” marketplace for buying and selling illegal goods.

“Ulbricht liked hanging out in the library’s sci-fi section for its quiet and free wifi. It makes for an ironic juxtaposition: one day you’re an aloof hacker sitting under a Dune poster, the next you’re facing a double life sentence for narcotics trafficking, money laundering and attempted murder (he spent almost a million dollars to hire six hitmen to take down his enemies).

“In the days of Silk Road, Tor — a type of open-source software for maintaining anonymity online — was used to hide IP addresses and bitcoin facilitated transactions without involving banks.”

Read more at Inside Hook