Two Israeli computer scientists recently published a paper linking the Bitcoin transaction system and the Internet black market Silk Road. After a security researcher claimed ownership of the account that was indirectly linked to the illicit transaction, the scientists retracted the said report, according to The New York Times.
Dorit Ron and Adi Shamir from the Israel's Weizmann Institute of Science made a public statement about retracting the report. The statement cited Dustin D. Trammell, a Breakingpoint Systems Inc security consultant in Texas, as the owner of the Bitcoin account that allegedly was used for the Silk Road transaction. The scientists also said they no longer believed the anonymous Bitcoin creator, who identified himself as Satoshi Nakamoto, generated the said transfer, the report explained.
In October, the FBI arrested Ross William Ulbricht of San Franciso and charged him for operating buy-and-sell business in illegal goods on the Silk Road market. He was also charged with a murder-for-hire scheme on Silk Road using the code name "Dread Pirate Roberts". His attorney, Joshua L. Dratel, said Ulbricht has denied the said charges. Meanwhile, Trammell posted on his website that he was neither Satoshi Nakamoto nor the person who was behind the illegal transactions on the online marketplace, said the report.
Bitcoin is a digital currency that allows individuals to conduct online transactions without going through financial institutions. The currency has garnered attention recently because of regulating challenges that surrounded the system, The New York Times reported.
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