<Tr> <Th> Current status </Th> <Td> Shut down by the FBI in October 2013 . Silk Road 2.0 shut down by FBI and Europol on 6 November 2014 . Silk Road 3.0 came offline in 2017 due to loss of funds . </Td> </Tr> <P> Silk Road was an online black market and the first modern darknet market, best known as a platform for selling illegal drugs . As part of the dark web, it was operated as a Tor hidden service, such that online users were able to browse it anonymously and securely without potential traffic monitoring . The website was launched in February 2011; development had begun six months prior . Initially there were a limited number of new seller accounts available; new sellers had to purchase an account in an auction . Later, a fixed fee was charged for each new seller account . </P> <P> In October 2013, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) shut down the website and arrested Ross William Ulbricht under charges of being the site's pseudonymous founder "Dread Pirate Roberts". On 6 November 2013, Silk Road 2.0 came online, run by former administrators of Silk Road . It too was shut down, and the alleged operator was arrested on 6 November 2014 as part of the so - called "Operation Onymous". </P> <P> Ulbricht was convicted of eight charges related to Silk Road in U.S. Federal Court in Manhattan and was sentenced to life in prison without possibility of parole . </P>

When did the silk road end deep web