Crypto has become extensively popular in the darknet, powering the clearnet drug market

The frenzy surrounding the crypto market has crossed epic proportions. As the implementation and popularity of cryptocurrency and blockchain increase, Bitcoin and altcoins valuation continue to soar. You might consider all aspects of this phenomenon as a blessing, but it is not. Just as cryptocurrencies are being increasingly used by customers, they are also extensively used by criminal actors. The rise of cryptocurrency crime is a major issue that law enforcement agencies are currently facing. As blockchain changes, so has the nature of financial investigations pertaining to the digital asset market. Recent reports suggest that the clearnet drug market size is expanding immensely with the help of cryptocurrencies. Experts believe that technology and drugs have always been intertwined, and now with the emergence of the digital asset market, crypto is serving as the bedrock tool for the development and growth of novel drugs.

Conversations based on drug councils and crimes can get extremely complex and technical and might include organic chemistry, metaphysics, and the ins and outs of blockchain technology. For several crypto criminals, the first step toward opening the door to conducting illicit practices is deploying the benefits of Bitcoin. Unfortunately, the flagship cryptocurrency, BTC has become the key for dubious and illegal actors in the market. Crypto is also one of the popular means of investment in the dark web, used for the sale of exploit kits. Consequently, government security organizations are also directing their best resources to crypto criminal investigations, which the aim of tracking illicit transactions and identifying the parties involved. But tracking the money through crypto wallets is not easy in this evolving designer drug market.

Cryptocurrencies in the Dark Web

As mentioned above, technology and drugs have been intertwined for quite a long time. Marijuana was the first intoxicant to be sold over in ARPANET, the first version of the internet, besides this, even magic mushrooms were the first thing listed and sold on the Silk Road, a close anonymous marketplace that was gaining a foothold for the commercial use of Bitcoin and Tor. Currently, the availability of chemicals, like designer drugs are new substances that are now being primarily sold over the dark web and on other malicious websites, hence, it still exists in the legal grey area and law enforcers are having a hard time tracking the illegalities revolving around the market.

Illicit substances like LSD, ecstasy and meth can be sold and advertised with almost total secrecy, these substances basically have names like 2C-B, AMT, and 5-MeO-DMT, and thousands of other variations that are synthesized annually. With the evolution of the internet, malicious practitioners now have easy access to drugs, weapons, and criminal activity thorugh the dark web as well as to other criminal organizations who make their living off scamming innocent victims. Darknet markets have unsuspectingly become a popular place for the research drug industry. This has enabked people to access recreational drugs that were otherwise impossible to discover before.

Bottom Line

The internet is a common communications platform that enables people from all corners tof the world to interact and share information. Permissionless networks are a new step to empowering individuals through software and intricate law enforcement networks. But over the past few years, crypto has become the key to enabling malicious practitioners to access and transact over the darknet market ecosystem. Currently, centralized security firms are trying hard to find the core reason behind the rising use of crypto in the darknet, and abolish the existence of these forums, once and for all.