Bitcoin Remains Most Popular Digital Currency on Dark Web

[alyssa85]

http://www.coindesk.com/bitcoin-remains-most-popular-digital-currency-on-dark-web/

Two professors at the Department of War Studies at King’s College London have published the results of their deep dive into The Onion Router, or Tor, network, which is designed to make it difficult to track the activity of online users.

The study found that websites offered illicit goods and services in 12 categories, including finance, and that bitcoin was still the digital currency of choice for conducting a wide range of other transactions.

“Bitcoin is the most common currency employed in all Tor hidden-services trade,” wrote Daniel Moore, a cyber-threat intelligence engineer in the Department of War Studies.

The report, "Cryptopolitik and the Darknet,” which appeared in the February-March edition of Survival: Global Politics and Strategy, analyzed about 300,000 web addresses, identifying 5,205 live websites, out of which 2,723 were classified as illicit with a “high degree of confidence.”

[watashi-kokoto]

Consider they use actual fiat money
On the other hand, by demanding $$ , ¥¥ they would disclose their own geopolitical (regulatory) location.

[OmegaStarScream]

It's a known fact and we also can't deny the fact that the Darkweb in general give a boost for Bitcoin price . (Silk road for example)

[romero121]

It's a known fact and we also can't deny the fact that the Darkweb in general give a boost for Bitcoin price . (Silk road for example)

Its a well known fact as quoted above. Now bitcoin has made their accessibility of large amounts very easy without much complications. Bitcoin is the most surviving crypt, So its much used in dark web.

[pereira4]

It's interesting to see how there are other alternatives right now that have better technology for anonymity, but still Bitcoin is the #1 used coin. This speaks of how important network effect is and how hard other coins will have it to even pretend to take Bitcoins #1 spot.
And we soon will have tech that makes Bitcoin as anonymous as the "anonymous coins."

[alyssa85]

It's interesting to see how there are other alternatives right now that have better technology for anonymity, but still Bitcoin is the #1 used coin. This speaks of how important network effect is and how hard other coins will have it to even pretend to take Bitcoins #1 spot.
And we soon will have tech that makes Bitcoin as anonymous as the "anonymous coins."

I think the problem with the other coins is that they are too volatile. No-one wants to receive payment in a coin that might lose 20% of it's value the next day.

BTC at the moment is moving by about 1% a day at most - that makes it attractive if you are trying to do commerce with it.

[densuj]

I hope the news is not work on price of bitcoin. Bitcoin is like drugs. It can be used for medicate depend on people whom use it. 

[jtipt]

Bitcoin is fairly easy to transact and handle, and over the top its kind of anonymous than fiat. So there is no doubt people will use BTC for illegal activities, they have been using it since the beginning of BTC. I think this is kind of bad for growth of bitcoin and this has affected btc since the start.

[Shinpako09]

No doubt on that because bitcoin is still the most valued crypto-currency. Plus theres a mixer that they can use to be more anonymous in the authority.

[SFR10]

As long as there's a market for it, it's going to remain as most popular and used currency on dark web (unfortunately). Even though this has a negative effect on BTCitcoin image, it somehow paves a way for a growth of some kind. There's a good chance that it's users, remain anonymous through out the deals (even though not entirely) and until there isn't another payment option that offers more benefit for users, it's going to be up there in the dark web and something huge could only change this, which I don't see it coming either.

[Kprawn]

Ok, How many studies has been done on drug trafficking and other contraband and also weapon smuggling and what percentage of that are done with Bitcoin? You will find that the biggest percentage

of these activities are still being done with fiat. The media and shills are sensationalizing this issue to give negative press for Bitcoin, and conveniently forget that fiat {cash} is still being used to buy

most of the illegal goods in most countries.  

[nagatraju]

The decentralized and quasi-anonymous nature of Bitcoin renders it vulnerable to self-interested parties that seek to exploit the system.  

Bitcoin is totally off the grid, and that's the magic for its most ardent supporters. But who really needs total anonymity, unless you're into pretty dark stuff?

[Amph]

well the other altcoin have no usage besides being dumped for bitcoin, and fiat is too damn traceable not worth it, and cash well good luck using it online

but i was expecting that something bit like ethereum and company would have seen some usage

[onlinedragon]

Criminals don't change each time the payment options if they work good the way they want it. They are most of time not busy with the crypto currencies they only want to earn fast money. It Bitcoin will be traceable they will choice another payment option.

[Hirose UK]

It's interesting to see how there are other alternatives right now that have better technology for anonymity, but still Bitcoin is the #1 used coin. This speaks of how important network effect is and how hard other coins will have it to even pretend to take Bitcoins #1 spot.
And we soon will have tech that makes Bitcoin as anonymous as the "anonymous coins."

because of bitcoin's anonymity, it's really good to use on dark web. I'm not surprised to know this, but I have some concerns about the legality and price of bitcoin. well, will this issue make bitcoin be banned or kind of thing?

[QuestionAuthority]

Bitcoin and dark web - peanut butter and jelly - corned beef and cabbage - hookers and johns, they simply belong together.

[LiteCoinGuy]

Dollar Remains Most Popular Fiat Currency in the Real World.

[Herbert2020]

It's interesting to see how there are other alternatives right now that have better technology for anonymity, but still Bitcoin is the #1 used coin. This speaks of how important network effect is and how hard other coins will have it to even pretend to take Bitcoins #1 spot.
And we soon will have tech that makes Bitcoin as anonymous as the "anonymous coins."

because of bitcoin's anonymity, it's really good to use on dark web. I'm not surprised to know this, but I have some concerns about the legality and price of bitcoin. well, will this issue make bitcoin be banned or kind of thing?

it may and may not lead to banning of bitcoin. it mostly will depend on the country that you are thinking about.
some of them might choose a hostile way and ban it like Russia (not sure if the news was 100% real though) but most countries are not so hostile and they are actually talking about regulating bitcoin.

[alyssa85]

It's interesting to see how there are other alternatives right now that have better technology for anonymity, but still Bitcoin is the #1 used coin. This speaks of how important network effect is and how hard other coins will have it to even pretend to take Bitcoins #1 spot.
And we soon will have tech that makes Bitcoin as anonymous as the "anonymous coins."

because of bitcoin's anonymity, it's really good to use on dark web. I'm not surprised to know this, but I have some concerns about the legality and price of bitcoin. well, will this issue make bitcoin be banned or kind of thing?

It's all down to percentages.

Others have pointed out that off-line criminals like to use fiat cash. But fiat is not banned - because a good 90% or more of it's use is legit, so no sense banning it just to catch the minority that is using it for criminal purposes.

As long as the majority of bitcoin usage is for legal stuff, it won't get banned. It's only when it is used mainly for illegal stuff that it is in danger.

The long and short of it is, if you want to save BTC, use it for normal commerce as much as possible to get the legal use percentage up.

[alyssa85]

Speaking of criminals using BTC, there's also this bit of news:

http://www.pymnts.com/news/security-and-risk/2016/city-held-hostage-via-bitcoin-ransomware/

the case is a bit more serious as it has to do with hackers using bitcoin ransomware to lock out local government employees from their own computers.

As has been reported, city officials worked to get back up an running, but there were at least a few computers that had already been impacted by the ransomware. The result? Having those government computers hacked in return for roughly $730 in bitcoin. But unlike some cases (like the hospital that forked over the bitcoin before consulting law enforcement), in this instance, the city called upon law enforcement for help — scaring off the hackers.

The nuts and bolts of the the hospital story began last month in Los Angeles with $17,000 worth of bitcoin being paid out to hackers who took down a computer system — which, of course, included vital medical records. This is the type of malware that’s been most commonly showing up in headlines and has been on the rise across the U.S.

Really, the sooner they start using an anonymous alt for this kind of stuff, the better it will be for bitcoiners...