Share this article
Welshman Pleads Guilty to Silk Road 2.0 Drug Offences
A 29 year-old man in Wales has pleaded guilty to five drug charges related to the Silk Road 2.0 marketplace, but did not make a deal with prosecutors.
Updated Sep 11, 2021, 11:44 a.m. Published Jun 24, 2015, 11:30 a.m.
A man in Wales has pleaded guilty to drug-related charges in a case stemming from the closure of dark marketplace Silk Road 2.0.
29-year-old Cei William Owens of Aberystwyth pleaded guilty to five charges at the Swansea Crown Court on Monday – supplying or offering to supply class A and B drugs, as well as three counts of possession, according to Wales Online.
STORY CONTINUES BELOW
Don't miss another story.Subscribe to the Crypto Daybook Americas Newsletter today. See all newsletters
Owens, who allegedly sold magic mushrooms and cannabis on the site, was arrested as part of a National Crime Agency operation last year. Five other individuals across the UK were also arrested.
No deal with prosecutors was involved. Owens was warned by Judge Keith Thomas that "all options remain open" with his sentencing, despite the guilty plea.
Owens will be sentenced on 24th July, and has been released on bail.
Silk Road continued
Shortly after the demise of the original Silk Road marketplace in October 2013, a successor named (appropriately) Silk Road 2.0 sprang up in its place.
It lasted for exactly a year before being shut down as part of the FBI's 'Operation Onymous', a massive operation in November 2014 by law enforcement worldwide which resulted in the seizure of a number of dark market sites, over $1m worth of bitcoin and large quantities of cash, precious metals and drugs.
There were 17 arrests across 17 countries involved in the operation. Although the operation targeted a range of 414 'illicit sites' living on the anonymous Tor network, only 27 were marketplaces and only 15 were involved in drug trafficking.
Silk Road 2.0 and its operator 'Defcon' were said to be primary targets of the operation. A marketplace called "Silk Road 3.0" immediately replaced it, but was later denounced by users as a scam.
The authorities still have some way to go before winning the war on online drugs. Dark web news site DeepDotWeb now lists 45 active marketplaces still operating on the Tor network.
More For You
What to know:
- As of October 2025, GoPlus has generated $4.7M in total revenue across its product lines. The GoPlus App is the primary revenue driver, contributing $2.5M (approx. 53%), followed by the SafeToken Protocol at $1.7M.
- GoPlus Intelligence's Token Security API averaged 717 million monthly calls year-to-date in 2025 , with a peak of nearly 1 billion calls in February 2025. Total blockchain-level requests, including transaction simulations, averaged an additional 350 million per month.
- Since its January 2025 launch , the $GPS token has registered over $5B in total spot volume and $10B in derivatives volume in 2025. Monthly spot volume peaked in March 2025 at over $1.1B , while derivatives volume peaked the same month at over $4B.
More For You
Coinbase Reopens India Signups, Targets Fiat On-Ramp in 2026 After Two-Year Freeze
Coinbase halted services entirely in 2023, off-boarded millions of Indian users and shuttered local access while reassessing regulatory exposure.
What to know:
- Coinbase has resumed onboarding users in India, marking its return to the market after a two-year hiatus due to regulatory issues.
- The exchange is currently allowing crypto-to-crypto trading and plans to reintroduce fiat on-ramps next year.
- Despite regulatory challenges, Coinbase is investing in India, including increasing its stake in local exchange CoinDCX.
Top Stories
