Dark net druggist identified by BTC transactions

[1Referee]

I pray this information can be made widespread in the media in order to warn off those who think they can use bitcoins and alternative currencies to pursue their criminal activities.

I honestly don't care what people use their coins for. If there is one thing I can't stand, then it's people thinking they can decide for others how they should be using their coins. Let people buy and sell drugs and weapons with Bitcoin, why should it be our problem? Bitcoin may not exactly be the best tool for these kind of activities, but it's money in the end, and the only coin with a solid amount of liquidity in order to cash out big time.

The media doesn't care about Bitcoin being only used by brave people, they need to attract clicks and ad pennies, which is why they will continue to look for every bit of negativity they can find. If it isn't criminals using Bitcoin to pay for stuff, then it will be something else. You can't stop those with an incentive to keep releasing hype based articles.

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1715156198

[cryptohopes]

Yes this is very unfortunate that bitcoin is used in illegal dealing and this is a reason that many state has banned bitcoin. I hope this news will discourage  those dealers to use bitcoin and bitcoin will be able to shed off the bad aspects of it like scam, drug dealings etc.

[LeGaulois]

People still using Bitcoin for the Dark web activity are just a kind of "wannabe gangsta". I mean, come on, at least use a Bitcoin mixer for your privacy. Most people stopped to use Bitcoin there (at least I hope) and use the privacycoins. Authorities could arrest a lot of people there just because of such mistake

[richardsNY]

This is actually a good thing because it directly refutes Bitcoin's usefulness in underground deals. It's now up to everyone else to figure out that Bitcoin is a horrible tool for such purposes. The only way I see it be viable is when people use funded physical coins as means of exchange, because they allow everyone to transact offchain without ringing alarm bells. The only point of importance is that an extreme level of trust is needed to accept physical coins. It could be seen as a brick of gold. In both cases you are dealing with a fixed value that can't be split into smaller chunks. It is for that reason be more sufficient for high value deals.

[Marlo Stanfield]

Yes this is very unfortunate that bitcoin is used in illegal dealing and this is a reason that many state has banned bitcoin. I hope this news will discourage  those dealers to use bitcoin and bitcoin will be able to shed off the bad aspects of it like scam, drug dealings etc.

It will probably discourage some people from using Bitcoin in particular. But that will just mean that they'd go and use another crypto. The issue with that is even if it's not Bitcoin being used, inevitably the media will just tie it back to Bitcoin in its reports since Bitcoin is the premier crypto.

[Chachacoin17]

Yes this is very unfortunate that bitcoin is used in illegal dealing and this is a reason that many state has banned bitcoin. I hope this news will discourage  those dealers to use bitcoin and bitcoin will be able to shed off the bad aspects of it like scam, drug dealings etc.

It will probably discourage some people from using Bitcoin in particular. But that will just mean that they'd go and use another crypto. The issue with that is even if it's not Bitcoin being used, inevitably the media will just tie it back to Bitcoin in its reports since Bitcoin is the premier crypto.

I don't think so mate, people who was long time holder of bitcoin wouldn't be discourage patronizing digital currency. No other crypto could overpower bitcoin's usability, and with regards to druggist they should be afraid of the authorities because they will be traced using blockchain tracking based on history records.

[Marlo Stanfield]

Yes this is very unfortunate that bitcoin is used in illegal dealing and this is a reason that many state has banned bitcoin. I hope this news will discourage  those dealers to use bitcoin and bitcoin will be able to shed off the bad aspects of it like scam, drug dealings etc.

It will probably discourage some people from using Bitcoin in particular. But that will just mean that they'd go and use another crypto. The issue with that is even if it's not Bitcoin being used, inevitably the media will just tie it back to Bitcoin in its reports since Bitcoin is the premier crypto.

I don't think so mate, people who was long time holder of bitcoin wouldn't be discourage patronizing digital currency. No other crypto could overpower bitcoin's usability, and with regards to druggist they should be afraid of the authorities because they will be traced using blockchain tracking based on history records.

Assuming there's other cryptocurrencies that offer higher degrees of privacy then they'd be crazy not to use it. Especially because as you say people can be tracked when using Bitcoin.

[alyssa85]

In paragraph 40 of the criminal case it is said: “After observing the bitcoin ‘tip jar’ advertised by OxyMonsyter, agents conducted analysis of the incoming and outgoing transactions from that bitcoin address and learned that 15 out of 17 outgoing transactions from the OxyMonster tip jar went to multiple wallets controlled by French national Gal VALLERIUS on Localbitcoins.com

Linking your address from darknet with transactions directly to an address on localbitcoins owned by a verified account with your real papers is beyond being lazy.

Lots of people are lazy. Not just criminals either. How many times have people been told to use a different password on each exchange, but they still end up using the same one on everything and then get their funds swiped?

[dinoloverpete]

It's quite amazing how if you're linked to such illegal activities you don't transition away from bitcoin to some privacy coin. It's a shame because stories like this will continue to mean bitcoin is linked with illegal activities which is really not the case compared to any other currency.

That doesn't mean Bitcoin cant be used as untraceable currency. It is indeed Bitcoin is pseudo-anonyms. But with additional feature like the mixer, we can achieve a truly anonymous coin. It is indeed another privacy-oriented cryptocurrencies offer us an easy way to do an anonymous transaction. But with a little bit of effort, we can use Bitcoin too.

I know bitcoin could be used in that way, I'm not personally against privacy but I do feel for the merit it brings it also brings a lot of negative publicity with such stories. Although I guess he wouldn't of been caught with true privacy.

Yes, he should've transitioned to Monero or something. It is about time for bitcoin to be cleared of this association with illegal activities. Not sure if Monero would've saved him, though. As the article explains, he appeared to have been carrying along his laptop with his tor browser installed and other compromising materials while going through airport control. They all make silly mistakes sooner or latter.

If he'd gone privacy coin only from minute one he wouldn't have been traceable. The only reason they got him with his laptop is because they knew who he was and were primed for it.

Even though this guy was up to naughtiness, it doesn't mean these techniques won't be abused for less cut and dried cases too.

They wouldn't have caught him just by chance, they can't go around checking every person's laptops for compromising evidence at airport security. I'm interested as to what less illegal activities you think would really benefit from privacy coins?

[Lucius]

When I read the article, I concluded that this is not a person which is intelligent in a way to know how to protect his privacy. He is sending BTC from his dark web site to Localbitcoins, and there he have his full personal data - how difficult it was to connect the transactions with the name? They even not need to use NSA secret programs to track him, just some old police methods.

Also he then travel to USA with laptop which he use for his criminal activities, everything was stored in that laptop - so he handed the key evidence to police and now he is expecting at least 20 years in prison. I think he deserved what happened to him.

[evilgreed]

Yes this is very unfortunate that bitcoin is used in illegal dealing and this is a reason that many state has banned bitcoin. I hope this news will discourage  those dealers to use bitcoin and bitcoin will be able to shed off the bad aspects of it like scam, drug dealings etc.

It will probably discourage some people from using Bitcoin in particular. But that will just mean that they'd go and use another crypto. The issue with that is even if it's not Bitcoin being used, inevitably the media will just tie it back to Bitcoin in its reports since Bitcoin is the premier crypto.

I don't think so mate, people who was long time holder of bitcoin wouldn't be discourage patronizing digital currency. No other crypto could overpower bitcoin's usability, and with regards to druggist they should be afraid of the authorities because they will be traced using blockchain tracking based on history records.

Assuming there's other cryptocurrencies that offer higher degrees of privacy then they'd be crazy not to use it. Especially because as you say people can be tracked when using Bitcoin.

             It is really amazing how they traced down those guys just by their past transaction history. If you could earn in a hard way without breaking the law then why should you prefer on something so easy to get and has bigger risks? Some wouldn't really understand it, while some will defend their rights but well that depends on someone's perspective in life and how will make a living.

[entrepmind23]

When I read the article, I concluded that this is not a person which is intelligent in a way to know how to protect his privacy. He is sending BTC from his dark web site to Localbitcoins, and there he have his full personal data - how difficult it was to connect the transactions with the name? They even not need to use NSA secret programs to track him, just some old police methods.

Also he then travel to USA with laptop which he use for his criminal activities, everything was stored in that laptop - so he handed the key evidence to police and now he is expecting at least 20 years in prison. I think he deserved what happened to him.

Maybe he relied on the semi-anonymity of bitcoin but then he is not that careful in dealing with his transactions. It is good though that they were able to catch some of the people who use bitcoin for illegal transactions and it is good news for the no coiners but maybe they would just use this reason again to not be involved with bitcoin seeing how easy the cryptocurrencies can be use in doing this.

Lots of people are lazy. Not just criminals either. How many times have people been told to use a different password on each exchange, but they still end up using the same one on everything and then get their funds swiped?

It is hard to keep up with different passwords and it is easier to remember your password when you use it for several sites which is both an advantage and a disadvantage because once someone get hold of your password then there is already a possibility all of your accounts being accessed. One should make the extra effort of creating different log in credentials. Unfortunately for the druggist, he is too lazy to even try hiding his identity given that he is doing illegal.

[bitfocus]

yes, French National under pseudonym of OxyMonster was tracked down via his BTC transactions and was caught
https://www.bitcoinmarketinsider.com/dark-web-drug-dealer-oxymonster-arrested-by-tracking-bitcoin-transactions/

[gentlemand]

Lots of people are lazy. Not just criminals either. How many times have people been told to use a different password on each exchange, but they still end up using the same one on everything and then get their funds swiped?

I get that for your Humblebundle account or something, but your high volume drug dealing account? Sheesh. You really have it coming if you're too dim to not think of the consequences of pisspoor opsec. It's not even pisspoor, it's flat out suicidal.

[nitrocryptonitro]

It seems that here we have a gathering of monkeys, who forget that if there was a first rise in BTC price & volume in 2011/2012 (an especially for the special discounts that were occurring on SilkRoad during 420 lol), that was because there was a very high need of BTC because of drug trades.
You, monkeys, would never have heard of BTC if those first transactions never took place.
Did you forget that BTC is the result of a very long cypher-punk maturation ?

Now, concerning the more educated people who intervened in that topic, they are right. Nobody should use BTC nowadays if someone's preoccupation is to be as stealth as possible.
As someone already mentioned it: BTC is only a pseudo-anonym crypto-currency.

For the ones who would like to find a good compromise between usability and anonymity, just check my signature, and  you will see that PRiVCY is the one that you should use if you want to reach a good balance for those 2 characteristics.

[btyco]

Druggies don't care and don't know, they assume because they can't track it no-one can. A little more research will reveal other privacy coins like monero and xspec which would be more useful to them

[stompix]

For the ones who would like to find a good compromise between usability and anonymity, just check my signature, and  you will see that PRiVCY is the one that you should use if you want to reach a good balance for those 2 characteristics.

Yeah, I'm pretty sure that a coin with a 66% premine and with a team of developers that has managed to have 2 threads delete here on bitcointalk in less than a week is the solution....

Loved the royalty-free pictures on the ann ...

Indeed, a true anonymous coin, even their so-called "whitepaper" will be released in Q3, probably to keep it also anonymous till you get scammed your coins 

If you could earn in a hard way without breaking the law then why should you prefer on something so easy to get and has bigger risks? Some wouldn't really understand it, while some will defend their rights but well that depends on someone's perspective in life and how will make a living.

If you would have a look at the sums that are been thrown back and forth on the darknet markets you're going to change your opinion.
It's almost a rule in this world, illegal activities will always get you more money for less work. A LOT more money!!!

[boblets243]

https://alextones.com/dark-web-drug-vendor-identified-by-bitcoin-transactions

I find it pretty incredible that in this day and age dark web fans are still using BTC considering how rapidly tracing is evolving, not that this guy tried remotely hard in the first place.

If you are posting heroin to babies maybe it's time to make the switch to a baked in anon coin.

It is good to hear that these people doing illegal stuff are caught. This kind of incident would help uplift the appearance of bitcoin to the public. I am hoping that these bad guys will be eliminated.

[CODE200]

It's quite amazing how if you're linked to such illegal activities you don't transition away from bitcoin to some privacy coin. It's a shame because stories like this will continue to mean bitcoin is linked with illegal activities which is really not the case compared to any other currency.

Yes, that's right. Even that will be a good news that now can do identify the drug users when using btc transactions still it's a big  mest for the reputation of this system. It's still gives a bad big impact to bitcoin and it only means that until now a lot of people using this system to do their illegal activities so for the governments it's still not good for their communities and maybe this will be the cause of already banning btc to other countries.

[Wexnident]

https://alextones.com/dark-web-drug-vendor-identified-by-bitcoin-transactions

I find it pretty incredible that in this day and age dark web fans are still using BTC considering how rapidly tracing is evolving, not that this guy tried remotely hard in the first place.

If you are posting heroin to babies maybe it's time to make the switch to a baked in anon coin.

That is good news to bitcoin economy. Despite of being decentralized of this system and making transactions without the presence or knowledge of the third party still they make a solutions to the main problem of this system and that is probably using bitcoin in a lot of illegal transactions.