The new iteration of Silk Road, a popular online black-market bazaar for drugs and other contraband, returned from a scheduled week of holiday downtime Saturday — but without its former leader.
Silk Road's operator, who goes by the alias "Dread Pirate Roberts" or "DPR," has been noticeably absent from the site's forums since three of his top lieutenants were arrested in a global sting on Dec. 20. A new administrator "Defcon" has assumed temporary control of the site, and confirmed that Dread Pirate Roberts has taken an indefinite leave of absence.
See also: As Major Silk Road Competitor Shutters, $100M Vanishes With It
"This past week, our ship suffered major damage," Defcon wrote in a Silk Road forum post Saturday night. "Three of our crew were lost, and our Captain was forced into exile."
The relaunched Silk Road, often referred to as "Silk Road 2.0" or "SR 2," opened for business on Nov. 6, about a month after the FBI seized the original Silk Road, and arrested its alleged owner Ross William Ulbricht, who is believed to be the original Dread Pirate Roberts.
In the weeks leading up to the launch of Silk Road 2.0, the new DPR granted Mashable an exclusive interview, during which he or she was ambitious that his or her site would surpass the original Silk Road's two-and-a-half-year run.
The new Dread Pirate Roberts has only posted on Silk Road's forums once since three of the site's top moderators were arrested for their roles as employees of the original Silk Road. In the post, the new DPR addressed a rumor that the FBI had access to the new Silk Road's servers.
"Silk Road has not been compromised even if the allegations are true," the new DPR wrote on Dec. 20. "I will make an announcement later to address the concerns this has raised."
However, the new DPR never made that announcement, and the last we've heard from the masked digital drug lord was in a private message on the forums on Dec. 21, through which he or she did not reveal any sensitive information or plans to depart. Now, Defcon is steering the ship, and it appears he or she will not take the "Dread Pirate Roberts" moniker like his or her two predecessors.
In addition to losing their leader, many in the Silk Road community may have lost money during this transition of power. Silk Road's escrow system, which basically acts as a temporary wallet that holds Bitcoin during pending transactions, is a key part of the site's infrastructure. It works like this: A buyer deposits Bitcoins to the escrow upon placing an order; once the order arrives in the mail, the buyer releases the coins from the escrow to the seller.
The escrow system is meant to protect both buyers and sellers from potential scams.
In a forum post, Defcon explained that all the Bitcoins in the site's escrow system got locked when DPR "hit his killswitch" to freeze the site after the moderator arrests. Defcon was supposed to receive an encrypted message with a code to unlock the system again, but said that message never arrived.
"I want to be clear here that this restriction of coins will only be temporary –- the moment DPR returns to us, escrow coins will be returned immediately," Defcon wrote. "In the event that he does not return (and I am confident he will), we will be refunding coins on a bi-weekly basis from the commission the market makes."
It's not clear how much money is locked in the escrow, and Defcon did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Defcon did, however, call the incident "humiliating," and announced that the Silk Road staff had implemented new measures, such as "No-Escrow Listings," to avoid such situations in the future.
"I take full responsibility for allowing this foolish single point of failure, and will personally commit to repaying all escrow balances within the next four months by working unpaid," Defcon wrote. "All staff is on the same page with me on this."
Defcon's post was met with mostly understanding and optimism on Silk Road's forums. User "Raven" wrote, "This shit is going down as EPIC in the historybooks (sic). Long live Silk Road, ALL HAIL Defcon!"
The post is not easily accessible because Silk Road's forum site, like the marketplace itself, is only accessible using Tor, a software meant to mask a user's web browsing. A Reddit user reposted Defcon's update on the Silk Road subreddit, where it was met with slightly more skepticism.

On the whole, December has been an extremely tumultuous month for online black markets. Two of Silk Road's biggest competitors, Sheep Marketplace and BlackMarket Reloaded, shut their digital doors. BlackMarket Reloaded, often lauded for its advanced security tactics, had been a mainstay since 2011.
Now, Silk Road itself has arrived at yet another crossroads. It appears the site will endure, at least for the time being.
Have something to add to this story? Share it in the comments.
Mashable Composite: Images via Silk Road and freestock.ca