Quote from: nzt48givesyouwings on April 10, 2013, 03:50 amThis makes sense, but are you sure that the coins were actually used for server costs and not held? How did you get this information - do you work with DPR or are you guessing based on the terminology?Also, I don't think they'd have to refund thousands of vendors. There really aren't that many of us...I am not sure that the coins were used for site hosting, maintenance and upkeep, but that is the most logical argument. Fees for purchasing vendor privileges were - at one time - the only income stream that Silk Road had. Thus it would not be a huge stretch of the imagination to presume that those fees were what were paying for Silk Road's upkeep.I am in no way affiliated with Dread Pirate Roberts or Silk Road; I'm simply a long time community member who has been here through it all, and am speaking based from experience of Silk Road, our community, and every announcement that DPR (formerly 'Silk Road') has made.A large number of people have bought vendor accounts in the past and either left them to sit until they find a use for them or attempted to sell them in contravention to Silk Road rules. I did say "hundreds, if not thousands", but still, even taking 500 as a VERY low base figure:500 (vendors) x (($150 [vendor fee] / $10.00 [per BTC, the average price range before the price shot up])=15 BTC) amounts to 7,500 BTC.If 7,500 BTC had to be refunded to vendors, at today's prices, it would amount to $1,752,525 @ $233.67/BTC.$150 was a very small fee for the opportunity to open up the entire global drugs market, in a safe environment, with an escrow service to protect both buyer and vendor.To gain access to a global market in a legitimate business would cost many, many times that.The fact remains that the $150 was a fee which was paid by the potential vendor in order to purchase vending privileges. That was the term of the contract at the time and contracts cannot be changed retroactively - a new contract must be drawn up instead and agreed to by both parties. That is a pillar of every market system ideology whether it be Capitalism, Libertarianism or indeed Agorism, and in the case of purchases on Silk Road it is a pillar that is enforced by the use of the escrow system. A buyer cannot simply turn around when they receive their order and state that they're now only going to pay you half because they have decided it is only worth that much.The $500 is a bond which is entered into by the potential vendor in order to purchase vending privileges and encourage legitimate selling in order to exchange said bond for the original BTC amount when the vendor fulfills the bond's terms.If vendors were to simply get the $500 worth back rather than the BTC amount they put in it would make more sense to scam buyers due to the rising value of Bitcoin.Apologies if I've been a tad unclear in my explanations above; it is very late here and I'm running on a 36 hour sleep deficit due to business pressures. :-\- grahamgreene