[2019-07-02] Bitcoin Criminals Set to Spend $1 Billion on Dark Web This Year

[bbc.reporter]

There is nothing stopping the darknet's growth. Also, with the G20 meeting together to add stricter regulations to control the cryptospace, the users might be forced to push their trades away from licensed exchanges and bitcoin, to the darknet and anonymous coins.

A deja vu moment for the government hehehe.



Bitcoin’s use in illegal online marketplaces peddling everything from drugs to child porn is on pace to set a record this year at more than $1 billion, according to a report by Chainalysis.

While the growth in illicit Bitcoin spending may be alarming, a major caveat is that the proportion of Bitcoin transactions tied to illicit deals is declining. Illegal activity has accounted for less than 1% of all Bitcoin activity so far this year -- down from 7% in 2012, according to Hannah Curtis, senior product manager of data at Chainalysis.

Read in full https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-07-01/bitcoin-criminals-set-to-spend-1-billion-on-dark-web-this-year

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[Kakmakr]

They are misinterpreting the data in that chart. There was a spike in spending in 2017, because the Bitcoin and other Crypto currency price was at a ATH. <People spend more Crypto currencies, when the price is high>

So as the price declined, people spend less Crypto currencies on the DarkNet. Also remember that Bitcoin is not exactly ideal for DarkNet activities, because it is not as anonymous as other Crypto currencies like Monero and Dash for instance.

How much money is spend on the DarkNet with stolen credit cards? I guess that would never be revealed, because the Banks and governments would hide those facts... right. 

[suzanne5223]

They are misinterpreting the data in that chart. There was a spike in spending in 2017, because the Bitcoin and other Crypto currency price was at a ATH. <People spend more Crypto currencies, when the price is high>

So as the price declined, people spend less Crypto currencies on the DarkNet. Also remember that Bitcoin is not exactly ideal for DarkNet activities, because it is not as anonymous as other Crypto currencies like Monero and Dash for instance.

How much money is spend on the DarkNet with stolen credit cards? I guess that would never be revealed, because the Banks and governments would hide those facts... right.  

Aside from the misinterpretation of the year 2017 chart, bitcoin was not the only coin used as payment on darknet I think the purpose was to  target bitcoin through the creation of FUD for only the newbie of the darknet web site will still continue to use bitcoin as their payment despite all the claim which was said about tumbler site this and for bitcoin not been totally anonymous.

[Jating]

Obviously, the spike in 2017 was due to the all-time-high we have seen that time.

It's weird though as we have been in a mini-bull run and the activity as per report also increases. Is there some correlation? Lol. I'm sure there will be some individual who will see that way. Similar to what they see in Google trends and even the amount of post here in this forum. 

[o_e_l_e_o]

How much money is spend on the DarkNet with stolen credit cards?

This.

This article is a selective scare piece. Every currency is used for illicit activities, and bitcoin ranks well below fiat in terms of illegal spending. I particularly liked the phrase "beloved by criminals looking to preserve some degree of anonymity". No it isn't, because bitcoin isn't anonymous.

It is estimated that around $400 billion is spent per year on illegal drugs* alone, never mind weapons, credit cards, pornography, fake documents, and all the other things you can buy on the dark web. As long as fiat is widespread, cold hard cash will always be the most anonymous method.


*Source: https://www.worldometers.info/drugs/

[Lucius]

It would be nice that Chainalysis is compare that alleged $1 billion on dark web, with fiat which is spend in the same way. We know that bitcoin anonymity is just a myth, and that those who want can reach almost every user who is not using Tor or maybe some some extra good VPN. NSA is working on bitcoin case from 2013 (by Snowden), and I think most users who wants extra privacy today use some coins which offer more anonymity.

As o_e_l_e_o post, $400 billion per year on all bad things makes this $1 billion in crypto like some kind of bad joke.

[Slow death]

Bitcoin’s use in illegal online marketplaces peddling everything from drugs to child porn is on pace to set a record this year at more than $1 billion, according to a report by Chainalysis.

The most ridiculous is they say that people prefer to use bitcoin instead of using monero in dark web, who would rather use bitcoin instead of using the monero in dark web? Chainalysis should show proof of their research so the public would be convinced that what they say is true. Bloomberg should be in contact with other companies that are in the same branch as Chainalysis and ask about what they think about the use of bitcoin and monero in dark web, can not be posting this type of news without there being proof or more research that show that really bitcoin is more used in dark web

[o_e_l_e_o]

The most ridiculous is they say that people prefer to use bitcoin instead of using monero in dark web

Not quite. They say Bitcoin is the most widely accepted cryptocurrency by vendors on the dark web, followed by Monero. They don't make a statement on which is the most popular in terms of chosen payment method, which as the most transactions, or which has the larger volume. It would be impossible for them to know any of these metrics given Monero's obfuscated ledger.

[BitHodler]

It is estimated that around $400 billion is spent per year on illegal drugs* alone, never mind weapons, credit cards, pornography, fake documents, and all the other things you can buy on the dark web. As long as fiat is widespread, cold hard cash will always be the most anonymous method.

The funny (or sad) part is that most of what criminals use Bitcoin for is put against the all time high so that it looks worse than it actually is. This is a form of statistical manipulation that is not uncommon for news outlets.

Nothing in the world will ever come close to the illegal activities that are financed with fiat. News outlets can twist numbers in whatever way they want, it's futile to even remotely come close to fiat in that field.

I'm glad that nobody really cares about this anymore. Back in the days it might have shocked people, but that's no longer the case. I see more people actually counter these articles by pointing out how bad fiat is when it comes to criminal use.

[Vishnu.Reang]

The fact remains that less than 0.1% of all the contraband is purchased using Bitcoin. The government authorities use this 0.1% as an excuse to whitewash the remaining 99.9%. The vast majority of illegal drugs and other stuff are being purchased for physical cash and so far the governments around the world have failed to do anything regarding this.

[1Referee]

I have seen local news channels pushing headlines that Bitcoin broke a new criminal record.

It's mind boggling how stupid people can really be. It's one thing to be ignorant when it comes to Bitcoin's technical aspects, but it's a completely different thing to be ignorant about what money is being used for what illicit purposes. These news outlets would be on the brink of imploding if they wouldn't have governments and corporations sponsoring them with dirty blood fiat currencies.

What is this 2013? Just fuck off.

[Schirer]

While the growth in illicit Bitcoin spending may be alarming, a major caveat is that the proportion of Bitcoin transactions tied to illicit deals is declining. Illegal activity has accounted for less than 1% of all Bitcoin activity so far this year -- down from 7% in 2012, according to Hannah Curtis, senior product manager of data at Chainalysis.

Just LOL. At least Bloomberg could not use stupid statistics. What was the market size at year 2012 and now    Now they serve comparison in percents like a fundamental index.

Meanwhile I have red that DarkSide market has experienced trouble after trouble, whole market places sized by police others exit scamming, doesn't seem that this market could be growing.

[bbc.reporter]

That proves strict regulation on cryptocurrency only could annoy regular user & stop lesser criminal, while other criminal are smart to use cryptocurrency without use exchange/services which could de-anonymize/freeze their funds.

I'm more interested to see privacy-focused cryptocurrency usage on darknet, if chainalysis could do it

Agreed. Also, the article mentioned that the 2nd popular cryptocoin used in the darknet is Monero. I assume they said that based on acceptance in the darknet, not from blockchain analysis hehehe.

They are misinterpreting the data in that chart. There was a spike in spending in 2017, because the Bitcoin and other Crypto currency price was at a ATH. <People spend more Crypto currencies, when the price is high>

So as the price declined, people spend less Crypto currencies on the DarkNet. Also remember that Bitcoin is not exactly ideal for DarkNet activities, because it is not as anonymous as other Crypto currencies like Monero and Dash for instance.

How much money is spend on the DarkNet with stolen credit cards? I guess that would never be revealed, because the Banks and governments would hide those facts... right. 

Aside from the misinterpretation of the year 2017 chart, bitcoin was not the only coin used as payment on darknet I think the purpose was to  target bitcoin through the creation of FUD for only the newbie of the darknet web site will still continue to use bitcoin as their payment despite all the claim which was said about tumbler site this and for bitcoin not been totally anonymous.

I reckon there is no fud in the article. However, the skeptical me says that there is some promotion paid for by Chainalysis hehehe.

[Reatim]

The fact remains that less than 0.1% of all the contraband is purchased using Bitcoin. The government authorities use this 0.1% as an excuse to whitewash the remaining 99.9%. The vast majority of illegal drugs and other stuff are being purchased for physical cash and so far the governments around the world have failed to do anything regarding this.

And the only reason why they are throwing bad images to bitcoin and crypto is to hide their real motive and the lapses they have to do their duties,and besides this way is the easiest to cover their laziness and illegal activities as well since it’s not new to the people at governments do to gain while others suffer

[roosbit]

They are misinterpreting the data in that chart. There was a spike in spending in 2017, because the Bitcoin and other Crypto currency price was at a ATH. <People spend more Crypto currencies, when the price is high>

So as the price declined, people spend less Crypto currencies on the DarkNet. Also remember that Bitcoin is not exactly ideal for DarkNet activities, because it is not as anonymous as other Crypto currencies like Monero and Dash for instance.

Right on the money! Well interpreted mate

How much money is spend on the DarkNet with stolen credit cards? I guess that would never be revealed, because the Banks and governments would hide those facts... right.  

Stolen credit cards....I guess it points back to fiat being the primary platform for criminals because this is one way of having money to obtain cryptocurrencies like bitcoin. With these facts at hand banks and other regulatory bodies need to find ways to combat fraud and no finger pointing at btc.

[buwaytress]

So, the entire big scary dark web will attract $1B dollars... so that's a whole HALF percent of the total illegal drug trade in 2019 so far (https://www.worldometers.info/drugs/)? How pathetic that drugs, porn and weapons, and assassins and hackers... can't even get their act together to get a fraction of the industry reliant on cash and banks to keep the wheels pumping.

Shame on you, Bitcoin. You had 11 years and this is how you help the dark web criminals?

[Betwrong]

Illegal activity has accounted for less than 1% of all Bitcoin activity so far this year -- down from 7% in 2012

This is  what important, not the clickbait, "1 billion", title of the Bloomberg's article. Normally a small percentage of everything is used for illegal activities. I bet more than 1% of USD in circulation is used for that.

Approximately 4% of Catholic priests were accused of sexual child abuse during the past half century. That's 4,392 priests. Catholic priests FFS! And 4% is much greater than 1%.

[dunfida]

Illegal activity has accounted for less than 1% of all Bitcoin activity so far this year -- down from 7% in 2012

This is  what important, not the clickbait, "1 billion", title of the Bloomberg's article. Normally a small percentage of everything is used for illegal activities. I bet more than 1% of USD in circulation is used for that.

Approximately 4% of Catholic priests were accused of sexual child abuse during the past half century. That's 4,392 priests. Catholic priests FFS! And 4% is much greater than 1%.

Its clear with the numbers but they wont tend to focus it up and this is the sad reality.They try to cover up things which supposed to be aired or spoken out into public.
From 7% to 1% then thats the thing i do consider to be important.We are just being lured out with that 1B thingy.

[bbc.reporter]

So, the entire big scary dark web will attract $1B dollars... so that's a whole HALF percent of the total illegal drug trade in 2019 so far (https://www.worldometers.info/drugs/)? How pathetic that drugs, porn and weapons, and assassins and hackers... can't even get their act together to get a fraction of the industry reliant on cash and banks to keep the wheels pumping.

Shame on you, Bitcoin. You had 11 years and this is how you help the dark web criminals?

This whole half of a percent will only grow more as more people adopt the cryptospace for their needs. Maybe we might also see unstoppable smart contracts in the darknet within 10 years. Blame Vitalik hehehe.