Illegal Weapons Dealer Used Bitcoin for Transactions
Benjamin James Cance, who has been charged for shipping illegal arms, possession of an unregistered weapon, and money laundering, allegedly used bitcoin to facilitate transactions. Bitcoin payments are typically untraceable, as the verification process is done by a network of computers solving complex algorithms to update the distributed public ledger called blockchain. This isn't the first time that the cryptocurrency has been involved in illegal dealings, as it has been the currency of choice in the now-defunct Silk Road or underground marketplace in the Dark Net. Bitcoin for Illegal....
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A recent series of busts has shaken the world of dark net weapons commerce. A six-month joint investigation between law enforcement in Australia and the United States, which involved law enforcement going undercover as weapons dealers, has resulted in 17 arrests internationally. In September 2014, the US Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) identified a 33-year-old US-based dark net seller of weapons to a "worldwide client base," according to a press release from the Australian Federal Police (AFP). The arrest came as the result of the Australian Customs and Border Protection Service....
There’s a new avenue darknet market (DNM) customers have found that allows them to purchase illegal wares 24 hours a day via a robot drug dealer hosted on Telegram. The platform dubbed ‘Televend,’ is an automated software program that peddles illicit narcotics for people paying with bitcoin and during the last few months, the complex system has grown massively. While many darknet markets have fallen to the wayside, a slew of new types of methods when it comes to selling illegal drugs online has risen. For instance, the world’s largest DNM in Russia, Hydra,....
European law enforcement agency Europol has taken down an underground marketplace on darknet that was booked for promoting child pornography and selling illegal goods. In a statement made right after the darknet’s shutdown, Europol credited the Italian police department as its ally in driving their two-year long “Operation Babylon” to its rightful conclusion. They recognize the undercover officers, who penetrated into the illegal community, and leaked details back to their departments. The investigation agencies was also cooperating with the FBI with hopes to identify each and every....
According to a new report, illegal transactions, scams and gambling together make up less than 3% of the volume on the Bitcoin blockchain while exchanges and trading desks account for around 80% of volume. Exchanges Dominate Bitcoin Volumes A new study called “Blockchain Analysis of the Bitcoin Market” has found that illegal transactions, scams, and gambling combined account for just 3% of all onchain bitcoin trade volume. On the other hand, the study asserts that exchange and trading desk-related volume — which is mostly speculative — constitutes about 80% of....
South Korean Law enforcement authorities have taken 33 individuals into custody for conducting illegal cryptocurrency transactions of $1.5 billion. In addition, these individuals carried out some illegal cross-border transactions using digital assets. Presently, the authorities investigate them and have fined fifteen while the 14 are yet to be prosecuted. However, four of these individuals are […]