Greetings all, Bitcoin is something that passed through my life with the permanence of snowflake in an inferno but it has recently piqued my curiosity and hence I wash up here, on your digital shores with a question:

What role did drugs play in the ascendency of Bitcoin?

The other day I was talking to a friend of mine about money and how it facilitates trade along with the history of currency and how it must have been a logistical nightmare in its early days.

He bought up the topic of Bitcoin and how its success was tied directly to drugs as a) Bitcoin was the only method of payment these digital dealers accepted b) It gave all parties involved a cybercool ego boost and c) it created the niche market opening that allowed further penetration into regular sectors.

Bottom line, his argument was that had it not been for Silk Road and its ilk that Bitcoin would have came and gone with nary a ruffle of the morning paper and how the illegal trade was responsible for the vast majority of its success and future proliferation.

Is he right?

As I said, I know naught about this cryptocurrency but the conversation did really make me want to find out more. Is this common knowledge? Is my friend arguing from authority or is this really how it has gone? Is it possible to see a graph which shows trading volume spikes/drops when the illegal sites have been shutdown/reopened?

Thanks



tl/dr - Bitcoin history - digital drug dealing = no Bitcoin as we know it. True or false?