Silk Road heroin dealer who helped convict Ulbricht will serve 2.5 years


silk road 1

Michael Duch, who sold heroin on the Silk Road and later testified at the trial of the site’s founder Ross Ulbricht, was sentenced today to two-and-a-half years in prison, according to Reuters.

Duch never interacted with Ulbricht, who went by the Dread Pirate Roberts on the site. His testimony in February was used by prosecutors to demonstrate that Silk Road created additional dealers and users. Duch, whose online moniker was “deezletime,” said he started selling drugs to support his own dope habit, which at its peak was costing him $200 to $300 per day.

Continue reading

‘Paradigm shift’: Surging Bitcoin to replace ‘broken’ government currencies


Reuters / Jim Urquhart

The Bitcoin virtual currency is up 24.5 percent in 24 hours, touching a new record of $619. The surge is “the beginning of something spectacular,” with it potentially displacing the dollar, Jeffrey Tucker of the Foundation for Economic Education told RT. Continue reading