Once, drug dealers and money launderers saw cryptocurrency as perfectly untraceable. Then a grad student named Sarah Meiklejohn proved them all wrong—and set the stage for a decade-long crackdown.

“This is the story of the revelation in late 2013 that Bitcoin was, in fact, the opposite of untraceable—that its blockchain would actually allow researchers, tech companies, and law enforcement to trace and identify users with even more transparency than the existing financial system.”

  • prole@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
    38·
    10 months ago

    Yeah, but retrieving actual useful currency from that wallet becomes nearly impossible. At that point, the only way, really, is peer-to-peer transaction. And even then, it seems fraught.

    • maness300@lemmy.worldEnglish
      15·
      10 months ago

      Yeah, but retrieving actual useful currency from that wallet becomes nearly impossible.

      Then how do people set up drug empires built around it?

      Use your brains.

      • circuscritic@lemmy.caEnglish
        21·
        10 months ago

        The same way they do everywhere else… Complex webs of money laundering, but that’s not cheap, or easy.

        • maness300@lemmy.worldEnglish
          7·
          10 months ago

          Or nearly impossible, as evidenced by the litany of small-time vendors who have been operating for years.

          On a side note, where are you getting this information from?

          • circuscritic@lemmy.caEnglish
            13·
            10 months ago

            You said drug empires, not guy selling 8 balls and 10 packs on a darknet market.

            I’m not going to provide sourcing for my throw away comment. Take it, or leave it, doesn’t really matter to me.

            • maness300@lemmy.worldEnglish
              11·
              10 months ago

              You said drug empires, not guy selling 8 balls and 10 packs on a darknet market.

              Yeah, because those are the ones LE focuses on. So we can agree that players both big and small are able to cash out on cryptocurrency and your initial point is wrong.

              I’m not going to provide sourcing

              Lol, okay. You can just admit you don’t have one.

              • circuscritic@lemmy.caEnglish
                11·
                10 months ago

                You got me, I’m just making this shit up. I have never even heard of any of the publicly available blockchain forensics databases, or reviewed any of the ample examples of reporting and analysis on the subject.

                If this was some obtuse or obscure subject, I’d take the time to cite sources, but it’s not, it’s extremely well covered, so stop being a lazy twat and look for yourself.

                • maness300@lemmy.worldEnglish
                  12·
                  10 months ago

                  I have never even heard of any of the publicly available blockchain forensics databases, or reviewed any of the ample examples of reporting and analysis on the subject.

                  That’s not what I asked about and you know it.

                  I asked how you know about vendor money laundering techniques, which you failed to provide a source for.

                  it’s extremely well covered

                  If that’s the case, then you should be able to easily provide a source instead of flailing around like you’re doing now.

                  so stop being a lazy twat and look for yourself.

                  You made the claim. You provide the source or you admit you’re making stuff up.

                  • pandapoo@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
                    2·
                    10 months ago

                    Are you actually asking someone to prove that large darknet market drug dealers use money laundering to safely access their profits?

                    It sounds like what you really want is someone to explain to you how it’s done successfully…if you’re that desperate to learn, take it to Dread and off Lemmy.