The latest chapter of the story of Silk Road began unfolding today with the arrest of Charlie Shrem, the founder of the BitInstant bitcoin exchange, on money laundering charges involving the black marketplace.

Shrem and 'BTCKing' are accused, by the Manhattan US Attorney, the DEA and other federal agencies, of engaging in a "scheme to sell" $1m of bitcoin to Silk Road users.

Ross William Ulbricht, the 29-year-old alleged mastermind behind the Road, has not yet been tried.

He was arrested for violating the narcotics laws of the United States, possessing and distributing controlled substances and committing or conspiring to commit computer hacking offences and money laundering offences.

Ulbricht also allegedly, “solicited a Silk Road user to execute a murder-for-hire of another Silk Road user, who was threatening to release the identities of thousands of users of the site”.

This timeline is a collection of everything we know about Silk Road so far. There are plenty of conspiracy theories. There are also details which may appear vague or even incongruous.

Whatever revelations come next, they are all just the beginning of a much longer timeline.

The interactive timeline below lets you scroll through the key points in the Silk Road story.

Featured image via Mediabistro / Flickr