Silk Road (Silk Road) was an underground online trading marketplace that operated in the anonymous part of the network and accepted bitcoins as payment. The marketplace became known as an example of the early practical use of cryptocurrency for settlements, which in the early 2010s drew additional attention to bitcoin from the general public and the media.

The use of bitcoin on such resources was connected with an attempt to ensure the anonymity of payments. However, the bitcoin network itself is transparent, and the analysis of the transaction chain later became one of the tools of investigations. The marketplace was shut down by law enforcement, and its organizer was brought to justice.

The history of Silk Road is often mentioned in the context of shaping public perception of cryptocurrencies. It demonstrated both the potential of bitcoin for fast cross-border settlements and the risks of its use for illegal purposes. This episode influenced the further development of regulation and systems for monitoring operations with digital assets.