"I read everything I could to deepen my understanding of economics and liberty, but it was all intellectual, there was no call to action except to tell the people around me what I had learned and hopefully get them to see the light. That was until I read 'Alongside night' and the works of Samuel Edward Konkin III. At last the missing puzzle piece! All of the sudden it was so clear: every action you take outside the scope of government control strengthens the market and weakens the state. I saw how the state lives parasitically off the productive people of the world, and how quickly it would crumble if it didn't have it's tax revenues. No soldiers if you can't pay them. No drug war without billions of dollars being siphoned off the very people you are oppressing."

"Now, my goals have shifted. I want to use economic theory as a means to abolish the use of coercion and aggression amongst mankind. Just as slavery has been abolished most everywhere, I believe violence, coercion and all forms of force by one person over another can come to an end. The most widespread and systemic use of force is amongst institutions and governments, so this is my current point of effort. The best way to change a government is to change the minds of the governed, however. To that end, I am creating an economic simulation to give people a first-hand experience of what it would be like to live in a world without the systemic use of force."

"As a Libertarian, the thing I love most about the Bitcoin project is the chance that it could be truly disruptive. I think that drug prohibition is one of the most socially harmful things that the US has ever done, and so I would like to do a thought experiment about how a heroin store might operate, accepting Bitcoins, and ending drug prohibition in the process. We'll assume that the drug store is very high profile, and that law enforcement makes discovering the operator a high priority. We'll also assume that heroin is cheap when bought in bulk; the street price reflects the risk that street dealers must take to sell their product."

"Has anyone seen Silk Road yet? It's kind of like an anonymous Amazon.com. I don't think they have heroin on there, but they are selling other stuff. They basically use bitcoin and tor to broker anonymous transactions."

"So here we go, first Bitcoin drug store. We're going into deep water faster than I thought then. I wonder how long will it take for govs to start investigating Bitcoin."

"The state is the primary source of violence, oppression, theft and all forms of coercion. [...] Stop funding the state with your tax dollars and direct your productive energies into the black market."

"Attempting major illicit transactions with bitcoin, given existing statistical analysis techniques deployed in the field by law enforcement, is pretty damned dumb."

"We write to express our grave concern upon discovery of an online marketplace for illegal drugs, known as 'Silk Road.' Launched in February, this underground website allows users to hide their identities and freely purchase and sell illegal drugs, ranging from cocaine, heroin, ecstasy, and marijuana. (...) Pursuant to 21 U.S.C. 853(a)(2), the Attorney General has the authority to shut down such entities involved in the delivery and distribution of controlled substances by seizing the website domain name. The Drug Enforcement Administration has been and continues to be rigorous in enforcing our controlled substance laws and regulations. As part of this critical mission, we urge you to take immediate action and shut down the Silk Road network."

"Second, nobody can control what is purchased with bitcoins, just like my local bank cannot control what I do with the cash I withdraw from their ATM machine. I wonder if Senators Schumer and Manchin would like to replace all cash with a government-issued smart card; after all, that would make it much harder for criminals to get away with buying illegal goods anonymously, and if we are all law-abiding citizens then we shouldn't worry about the government knowing about all of our purchases... right?"