Silk Road 2.0 pledges to reimburse $2.7 million of stolen Bitcoins

Silk Road 2.0 pledges to reimburse $2.7 million of stolen Bitcoins

Online black market Silk Road 2.0 has announced to pay back more than $2.7 million worth of Bitcoins that was compromised last week. The heist affected 47 percent of the site’s total user base that lost a total of 4,474.26 Bitcoins.

Silk Road 2.0 moderator Defcon said via Reddit that it would not pay its staff until users had been reimbursed. “We are committed to get everyone repaid even if it takes a year.” In the announcement on Reddit, Silk Road issued a seven-point repayment plan to the community:

1. This administration will not earn any commissions until everyone is completely paid back, and will be very transparent about the progress towards this goal.
2. The marketplace will relaunch as no-escrow. We will not re-implement escrow unless it is multi-signature and decentralized to multiple escrow providers (trusted mediators with feedback just like vendors). Never buy from a market which uses centralized escrow again. You will only get hurt no matter how honest the team is.
3. All items will be priced at a flat 5% commission which will go directly into victims’ balances upon purchase.
4. Vendors who lost funds: Commissions from your items will go directly into your wallet until you are completely repaid, then will be distributed to other vendors until they are repaid. Vendor bonds are considered lost funds, and we also commit to paying these back.
5. All vendors can opt-in to give a higher percentage back on their listings, and all buyers will be presented with a “Donate” box on the shopping cart. Vendors’ donation percentage will be publicly visible.
6. We will launch the support system immediately. Resubmit any open support requests you had which are still applicable. All previous messages will be ignored due to our inbound message volume. I have received over 1000 private messages over the past 24 hours, for example. This fresh start will allow us to stay on top of the support queue, rather than paying down a large debt incurred by previous administrators.
7. We will still handle dispute resolution for existing escrow orders until all balances site-wide are in “Pending Balance” category. Your stolen balances and escrows will display as “Pending balance” and “Pending escrow”. Yes, like Christmas. I hoped to never have to take this approach again. All unshipped orders have been cancelled. To the vendors who have shipped orders despite no access to the portal: you are beautiful people. Try to resolve with your buyer directly, and file a support ticket if you do not receive a refund to your pending escrow balance within a month.

Amidst the discussions, there has been allegations that the theft was an inside job to which Defcon stated, “We are deep into the investigation of data surrounding the attacks, and there is absolutely zero evidence of any staff member being involved. We will publish more information as we determine its accuracy, thank you to all who have contributed tips on the attackers’ identities.”

Defcon was apologetic and understands that vendors may not return due to the bad experience and added, “You are welcomed and encouraged to vend on multiple markets. I only trust myself, and will not endorse any of them. But I have failed you. Wherever you vend, may you prosper.”