US Law Enforcement Is Watching for Bitcoin Drug Purchases on Darknet
Although the Silk Road was shut down in 2013 following Ulbricht’s arrest, many individuals still use Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies to purchase illicit drugs from darknet markets. Michael Meyer, the chief information officer of automated crypto trading platform ArbiSmart, told Cointelegraph that while using crypto to purchase illicit drugs may appear to be secure, Bitcoin transactions are not that private: The NCIS has issued a warning to navy personnel regarding the risks involved with making illegal purchases on darknet markets.
In addition to the travel rule, Jefferies noted that CipherTrace has created a training program called the “Defenders League” where students are trained by professionals to investigate crypto criminal activities: It’s also notable that the former U.S. Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, Sigal Mandelker, recently joined a board of advisors at Chainalysis — a crypto forensics firm that provides crypto transaction data to the FBI and the Internal Revenue Service. Todd Maher, the president of compliance at advisory firm BitSource AML Solutions, told Cointelegraph that while there has indeed been an increase in BTM usage, it hasn’t been proven that this is driving criminal activity: “Whether these BTMs are being used for the purchase of drugs has been inconclusive, with tools in place to assist in mitigating illicit usage risk,” further adding: “From the audits and clients that I service, the correlation of Bitcoin purchases to darknet markets and criminal addresses have been minimal.”.
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