Bitcoin And DarkNet

[Newchanka]

How do I access the darknet as I'm curious to know what goes on there. That ecosystem found BTC very useful in the past, is it still actively using it as a form of value transfer? Or is bitcoin totally useless in terms of covering one's tracks? What's the process of linking up to know aht's going onj in there to gather news?

[mk4]

How do I access the darknet as I'm curious to know what goes on there.

Download the Tor browser. And if you're curious on what's going on there, there's a lot of scams, and that's pretty much it.

That ecosystem found BTC very useful in the past, is it still actively using it as a form of value transfer?

Of course.

Or is bitcoin totally useless in terms of covering one's tracks?

You can use Coinjoin programs such as Samourai or Wasabi, or you can also use mixers like ChipMixer if you value privacy(which you should).

What's the process of linking up to know aht's going onj in there to gather news?

All that you need to know with bitcoin and the darknet markets is that the people who are receiving bitcoin there are drug dealers and scammers.

[mocacinno]

i agree with mk4, but just wanted to point out the darknet is more than scams and drugdealers... Offcourse, if you start visiting darknet markets, a lot of them are pointed towards the illegal stuff...

But, just as a personal example, i've been running openbazaar routed trough tor to sell consulting (which is not illegal). I stopped doing it because of the lack of clients.
Another example is that i've been running my testnet faucet with a clearnet and darknet interface...

Also, a lot of clearnet companys have a darknet presence...

So, all in all, the darknet tends to have a little more illegal stuff, but it's defenately not 100% scam and scum over there... Some people use tor for privacy, some use it to escape the unreasonable requests of their governements, some use it as a technical enhancement (against, for example, DDos attacks on clearnet mirrors)... And some use it for illegal or immoral stuff...

[Newchanka]

i agree with mk4, but just wanted to point out the darknet is more than scams and drugdealers... Offcourse, if you start visiting darknet markets, a lot of them are pointed towards the illegal stuff...

But, just as a personal example, i've been running openbazaar routed trough tor to sell consulting (which is not illegal). I stopped doing it because of the lack of clients.
Another example is that i've been running my testnet faucet with a clearnet and darknet interface...

Also, a lot of clearnet companys have a darknet presence...

So, all in all, the darknet tends to have a little more illegal stuff, but it's defenately not 100% scam and scum over there... Some people use tor for privacy, some use it to escape the unreasonable requests of their governements, some use it as a technical enhancement (against, for example, DDos attacks on clearnet mirrors)... And some use it for illegal or immoral stuff...

Thanks @mocacinno. I've always found your views insightful. So I'll just search "darknet" and that's it...