Quote from: a_blackbird on February 19, 2012, 05:17 pmQuote from: madmax on February 19, 2012, 11:25 amAgreed. However, there's a pretty big problem with your idea about running a BTC-based business: Real BTC businesses tend to also accept USD, which is where they make the majority of their money, because the Bitcoin market is miniscule. If you make $100,000 in Bitcoins but only $100 in USD in a year, it's going to look suspicious because none of the legitimate players have that income pattern, so you're going to get caught. Yeah, point taken. At the risk of drifting way off-topic and hijacking the thread, this brings to mind a couple of other interesting questions...a) What percentage of the BTC economy is SR, and what percentage is "everything else" ?b) When you buy or sell something on SR, when do coins actually transit the BTC network, and when are they just moved around internally from one user account to another?Re: (A) , Bitcoin people are basically in denial about the Silk Road. It's a pretty damn big chunk of the B$ economy. SR doesn't file a Annual Report, but if it did that's probably what you'd find.Most of them are libertarians or agorists in theory only. Once G-Man says hello they're suddenly all: "Yes Sir, No Sir, Three Bags Full Sir!". They disgust me with their weakness and moral cowardice.In fact, the black market or Extralegal Economy is nearly always the largest part of *any* economy that is an emerging market. It's an ancient pattern well known to economists and investors. It's only in the West that the black market is much more diminutive than the white market.