Silk Road heist could doom Bitcoin black markets

Thinking about using your bitcoins to buy drugs, weapons or to hire an assassin? You might want to reconsider.
 
Paying black marketeers in bitcoins is a good way to lose your money, and possibly your freedom, according to a report by CNNMoney. That’s because black-market websites like Silk Road and Sheep Marketplace are increasingly under scrutiny from law enforcement and hackers.
 
Hackers can tap into the website or your bitcoin wallet and once it’s emptied, there’s no getting back your bitcoins. Nearly $9 million in bitcoins were grabbed by hackers from those two sites in recent weeks. If a transaction goes through without a glitch, it just left a permanent record that traces back directly to a customer's wallet, earning bitcoins the nickname “prosecution futures” from law enforcement.

Read more from CNNMoney.