The publicity they got from Silk Road isn't even good publicity, instead it slowed things down for it by dragging it's name and use because of the first impression it had. Yung sinasabi mong "limelight" about Bitcoin hindi ito yung magandang klase kasi ito yung tinatawag nilang "infamy" na nadala ng Bitcoin dahil sa pagiging first choice nya as a payment option in Silk Road. Yes Silk Road has done a lot on Bitcoin's early price increase but considering the cons it brought like several years of delay regarding mass adoption? Mas pipiliin ko pa din yung mas nagagamit na yung Bitcoin ngayon compared sa early price increase.
Any publicity is good publicity. If anything, baka nga di ganito ka kilala ang Bitcoin ngayon kung hindi dahil sa Silk Road, kahit negative ung impression na binigay niya. "There's no such thing as bad publicity" ika-nga(though depending on the example, and may limitations rin of course). Very very common knowledge on the world of advertising.
In this case, though negative nga, na-publicize ang ise sa use-cases ng bitcoin— which is pseudonymous and trustless transactions.