The online drug-dealing bonanza continued unabated Friday morning, hours after U.S. and European authorities seized Silk Road 2.0 and at least two other digital black marketplaces.

A third incarnation of the trailblazing Silk Road is already welcoming new users interested in a diverse offering of illegal and prescription drugs.

“Welcome to Silk Road Reloaded,” says a message to new registrants on the third version of the original, which was taken offline in October 2013.



“We are an anonymous, professional and peaceful marketplace selling all sorts of goods and services,” says the message, signed by “Dread Pirate Roberts,” the pseudonym originally used by the first site operator. “There is no judgment, censorship or repercussion here. We are truly free.”

Silk Road, the original, fundamentally changed how many drug users, particularly young and tech-savvy ones, acquired their contraband. Accessible only through the anonymous Tor network, the market allowed buyers to make relatively well-educated and seemingly risk-free purchasing decisions.

As links to the new Silk Road circulate online, some jittery users of Silk Road 2.0 fear the new site was actually created by authorities.



A third online black market using the Silk Road brand name is populated with many illegal drug listings. Silk Road/Screen Shot

“SR 3.0 is being set up now at DEA.GOV” wrote a user on the Silk Road-dedicated subreddit. Other Reddit users worried authorities would take down the new market, and with it vendors and buyers.

Still, many apparent businesspeople are offering their wares on the new Silk Road. On Friday morning there were about 250 listings for illegal or prescription drugs.

The vendor “virtualzombi” is offering 5 grams of purportedly high-quality, 89 percent pure Colombian cocaine for $483.72. Others offer marijuana, LSD and heroin. Pills hawked by “Meds2Buy” include 100 5-milligram Valium pills for $95 and 30 30-milligram Adderall tablets for $180.



Vendors on the latest incarnation do not currently have user reviews, an eBay-like feature that allowed buyers on the previous two Silk Roads to feel confident they were buying from an actual drug dealer and that the contraband was of reliable quality.

The current illicit offerings pale in comparison to those on Agora, a separate dark net site that offers drugs alongside counterfeit items, pirated data, forged identification documents and weapons.

At Agora – apparently unaffected by the Thursday stings – there were nearly 13,000 drug listings on Friday morning.



Agora was the largest online black market in August, though Silk Road 2.0 had more drug listings. Agora/Screen Shot

According to data compiled by the Digital Citizens' Alliance, Agora was the largest black marketplace on the deep Web in August, though Silk Road 2.0 had slightly more drug listings. The online marketplaces Evolution and Pandora also had substantial offerings.

Purchases on the deep Web's black markets are generally made using the virtual currency Bitcoin. Items are shipped through the mail – eliminating, proponents say, the violence and potentially risky street-dealing commonly associated with such transactions.

The first Silk Road, launched in early 2011, was taken offline in October 2013 after long-befuddled investigators found one of the first online mentions of the market and connected it to Ross William Ulbricht, who is now awaiting trial. The second Silk Road was infiltrated by a federal agent, who was granted moderator powers. Blake Benthall, a 26-year-old former SpaceX employee, faces life in prison if convicted of running the successor site, which went offline exactly one year after launch.



"Let's be clear – this Silk Road, in whatever form, is the road to prison," U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said in a Thursday statement. "Those looking to follow in the footsteps of alleged cybercriminals should understand that we will return as many times as necessary to shut down noxious online criminal bazaars. We don't get tired."