Report: More than 50% of Silk Road 2.0 hacking victims repaid in full

In mid-February, Silk Road 2.0 announced that it had lost nearly 4,500 BTC (around $2.6 million) to a transaction malleability attack. As the unofficial successor to the original Silk Road marketplace, which was busted by federal authorities in October of 2013, Silk Road 2.0 was already suffering from serious credibility issues. Not surprisingly, many assumed that the “hack” was simply a scam, and that customer funds were lost forever. But Silk Road 2.0 admins insisted that they would repay all debts from the attack, suspending employee payments and charging a 5% commission on purchases until funds had been restored.

According to a report on Vice’s Motherboard blog, that’s exactly what happened.

According to Silk Road staff members, 50 percent of the hack victims had been completely repaid as of April 8, and users themselves have been continually reporting payments since the breach, posting on the site forum when they receive their payment. Since February 15, the administration of the site has not made any commissions on sales. Instead, every time a purchase is made, a five percent slice of the cost goes directly into the account of a randomly determined hack victim.

Site admins claim that as much as $500,000 in returned funds are currently sitting unclaimed in user accounts. The admins suspect that these accounts have been abandoned, as large-scale repayment seemed unlikely and the users simply assumed that the funds were permanently lost.

Given that Silk Road 2.0 is a black market site that deals largely with highly illegal items, such skepticism is understandable. Yet, even in the criminal underworld of the hidden internet, trust and good faith are proving to be important elements of running a successful business. The Silk Road 2.0 admins expect all debts to be repaid in full by mid-June.