US Authorities Bust Billion-Dollar Crypto Laundering Network, Charge 2 Russians

Two Russian nationals have been charged with running a massive money laundering network that processed billions through cryptocurrency exchanges, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced. These exchanges, including Cryptex and Joker’s Stash, enabled criminals to bypass regulations and funnel funds from fraud, ransomware, and darknet activities. U.S. authorities, in collaboration with international law enforcement, … Read more

4 Years After the 2017 Law Enforcement Takedown, Alphabay Is Once Again the King of Darknet Markets

Following the demise of the largest darknet marketplace (DNM) in mid-July 2017, the underground market Alphabay returned in August 2021, and during the last year, Alphabay has managed to once again regain its position as the world’s top DNM. Furthermore, Alphabay relentlessly conducted business amid a domino effect of DNMs folding last year and throughout … Read more

Darknet Market Joker’s Stash Retires After Raking in $1 Billion in Cryptocurrencies

One of the largest darknet marketplaces for selling identity data and stolen credit card information, Joker’s Stash retired last month after making off with a cool $1 billion in cryptocurrencies. Weeks ago, U.S. and European officials seized some of the web portal’s servers tied to Joker’s Stash site, but were unable to completely shut operations … Read more

Bitcoin Cash Captured More Than 10% of Darknet Sales Last Month

2019 was an interesting year for darknet markets (DNMs) and a number of marketplaces closed for a variety of reasons. Despite the closures, crypto payments on DNMs doubled for the first time in five years. Moreover, statistics from the blockchain analytics provider 1000x Group show digital currencies like bitcoin cash (BCH) have joined BTC’s dominant … Read more