I have been into bitcoin since 2012 if I remember correctly, they had just broken 4$ and you are right in my opinion that without silk road, like it or not, we would not be talking about bitcoin today. as the old saying goes, theres no such thing as bad publicity! From an investment perspective...
The problem as I see it though, and let me say I'm a proponent of Darkcoin and absolutely love everything about the tech and concept behind it, is that because of its anonymity and even the name "dark" which implies illicit or nefarious uses (silk road et al come to mind) this coin will never be...
Www.vaultofsatoshi.com. Can trade drk/btc and about a dozen other crypto currencies as well as drk/usd and drk/cad. It's a canadian exchange but open to sign up internationally. They are legit, been using em without problem since they started last year. They also have a nice option to withdraw...