White, a technologist and privacy activist, pleaded guilty to a number of charges at a Liverpool, U.K. court, including drug trafficking, money laundering and creating indecent images of children. White launched the second Silk Road—which processed hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of daily transactions at its peak—after the first was shut down by the FBI for being a platform for child porn and illegal drugs. He was first arrested in 2014, but has been out on bail since. (Motherboard)

Talking point: Over the past five years, White has built up a notable reputation in internet security circles under his real name. He’s been quoted as an expert in Motherboard and in Forbes, and also ran a website that maintained large datasets from hacked website that anyone could download, including the MySpace and Ashley Madison breaches. White is one of the last core members of Silk Road who had remained free. Ross Ulbricht, the founder of the first Silk Road, received a life sentence while. Roger Clark, Ulbricht’s right-hand man, was extradited to the U.S. in June 2018 after spending over two years in Thai custody. In November 2018, James Ellingson, a prominent Silk Road figure who allegedly set up a killing on behalf of Ulbricht, was arrested in Vancouver for allegedly selling illegal drugs on the Silk Road.