Is Ross William Ulbricht and his online underground drug website, Silk Road, the real-life story of "Breaking Bad"?

Just like AMC's main character and meth kingpin, Walter White, Ulbricht took over a drug industry controlled by violent criminals. Just like White, Ulbricht's impact, according to ZDnet, was bad, but maybe not that... bad.

According to Newsday, Ulbricht's online service, trafficked over a billion dollars in a two-year period using the online pay service Bitcoin. The site had over 900,000 registered users interested in purchasing substances such as heroin, ectacy, cociain, opoid, LSD, and more. According to Newsday, the FBI shut down Albrecht's website Wednesday for good. The online mastermind's bail hearing is scheduled for Friday.

"Silk Road has emerged as the most sophisticated and extensive criminal marketplace on the Internet today," FBI agent Christopher Tarbel told Newsday.

Yet, Silk Road had its merits, at least according to ZDnet columnist, Tom Foremksi. Compared to the street, the drugs were cheaper and higher quality, giving users a safer high. Buyers didn't have to associate with dealers and other potentially dangerous middle men.

"If it had grown large enough, Silk Road, or a collection of similar online services would have begun to seriously challenge the revenues of local and international mobsters on a scale that the war on drugs has consistently failed to do," Foremksi wrote.

Except Ulbricht, like White, may have gone too far. According to Businessweek, Ulbricht arranged the murder of a Silk Road user threatening to release sensitive site information. Though the FBI hasn't yet found the evidence to support this claim, Businessweek reported Ulbricht confirmed the murder in various documents seized by authorities.

Ulbricht, based in Silicon Valley, used some of the most sophisticated computer technology designed to hide the identity of its users and keep federal authorities from getting too close, Newsday reported. He employed encryption software called TOR, which confused investigators for years. He used a pay service called Bitcoin, which, like TOR, gives users the gift of anonynimity, according to Newsday.

Bitcoin, whose shares have dropped from $140 to $110 according Businessweek, could still benefit greatly from Silk Road's demise.

"I think it's a huge positive," Fred Ehrsam, one of the co-founders of Bitcoin told Businessweek. "This kind of takes the biggest target that people might speak negatively about when it comes to Bitcoin, and takes it off the map."

Businessweek reported the success of Bitcoin could spawn a whole new group of entrepeneurs looking to break into the market of anonymous online money transfering.