4 Lessons to Learn From Ross Ulbricht's Trial (Op-Ed)

By Amanda B. Johnson

Ross Ulbricht – the man who 12 strangers recently deemed to be rightful property of the state – is set to spend the rest of his otherwise productive life in a cage. But if you're interested in the future of cryptocurrency, whether or not Ross really ran the successful Silk Road website is beside the point.

Whatever you think about the victimless act of buying or selling “illicit” plants, consider the following:

1. Cryptocurrencies will do best where states are poor. Imagine for a moment how much the Ulbricht and Silk Road persecution cost the state in America.

Imagine how many state employees like Jared Deryeghiayan collected fat salaries – for years – to infiltrate the site's administrative operations. To track down and seize the servers on the other side of the world.

Imagine the manpower, computer power, caging facilities and weaponry used to carry out the capture and year-long caging of Ulbricht. Imagine the cost of the jail guards, state-employed hackers, judges, lawyers, prosecutors, police, and paper pushers. The “press” releases. The “evidence” collection and archival.

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