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Blockchain transactions are recorded forever and indelibly, and that  means that all the Bitcoin transactions on early Tor hidden service  marketplaces like Silk Road are on permanent, public display; because  many people who made these transactions later went on to link those  Bitcoin wallets with their real identities, those early deals are now  permanently associated with their public, identifiable selves.

In a new paper, a  group of Qatari computer scientists show that they could easily trace  100 dark market accounts to real people. About 20 of those accounts had  made purchases on the Silk Road, and some had gone on to divulge their  legal names and addresses in other, linkable contexts.