Bitcoin on the Darknet – @shutterstock / @envato
The dark web, the underbelly of the Internet where goods are illegally bought and sold using cryptocurrency, has proven remarkably resilient in recent years. Law enforcement agencies are struggling to stop illegal money flows to these marketplaces.
The amount of Bitcoin flowing into dark markets has increased steadily over the past six years, with a slight decline between 2017 and 2018. The currency's presence on the darknet saw a slight decline in 2018 when AlphaBay and Hansa Market closed in mid-2017 became. Despite this setback, the amount of money flowing to other parts of the Darkness remained relatively constant.
Chainalysis , which conducted this study, estimates that the closure of AlphaBay caused a surge in Bitcoin traffic to Hydra, a Russian language market. This realignment of traffic is why, despite the closure of illegal marketplaces, Bitcoin movements on the dark web remained relatively constant from 2017 to 2018 compared to the previous five years of growth. Between 2017 and 2018, Bitcoin's presence on the dark web grew by 14,040 percent, while the currency's presence on the market only shrank by 14 percent after the closures. This poses a problem for regulators trying to track money movements and shut down dark marketplaces.
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The darknet, the shadowy parts of the internet where goods are bought and sold illegally with cryptocurrency, has proven to be remarkably resilient over the past few years. Law enforcement agencies have struggled to shut down illegal money flows to these market places.
The amount of bitcoin flowing to darknet markets has experienced a steady rise over the past six years, with a minor setback between 2017 and 2018. The currency's presence on the darknet saw a slight dip in 2018 when AlphaBay and Hansa Market closed in the middle of 2017. Despite that setback, the amount of money flowing to other parts of the darknet remained relatively consistent.
Chainalysis , which conducted this study, estimates that AlphaBay's closing caused an uptick in bitcoin traffic to Hydra, a Russian language market. This redirection of traffic is why despite closing illegal market places, bitcoin movements to the darknet remained relatively flat from 2017 to 2018 compared to the previous five years of growth. Between 2017 and 2018, bitcoin's presence on the darknet grew by 14,040 percent, while the currency's presence on the market shrunk by just 14 percent after the closures. This presents a problem for regulators who are trying to track money movements and close down darknet market places.
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