The Darknet markets are increasingly returning to Bitcoin (BTC) as their main cryptocurrency due to the increase in liquidity and accessibility challenges associated with confidentiality coins like Monero (XMR), according to Eric Jardine, the search for cybercrime is being channel.
“After major exchanges have struck the XMR, we observed a significant increase in Bitcoin entrances,” said garden in an interview with Coindesk. “Accessibility reduction consists in directing users to Bitcoin.”
Many Western markets on Darknet – part of the Internet hosted in a encrypted network and accessible only through specialized tools for anonymity – had fully moved to Monero or operated with it in parallel with Bitcoin before the delists. XMR fell after being withdrawn from major exchanges.
OKX deleted XMR and other confidentiality tokens, including Dash (Dash) and Zcash (ZCH), at the end of 2023. Binance announced in February 2024 that it planned to deactivate Monero.
“When a coin or a token no longer meets this standard or the industry changes, we carry out a more in -depth examination and potentially radus,” said Binance at the time.
The data on the Bitinfocharts chain show that the daily number of monero transactions reduced by that time last year.
“In order to be an effective type of exchange, you need a certain amount of liquidity and a certain accessibility,” said Jardine.
Jardine stressed that illicit cryptocurrency transactions represent only a minor part of the total cryptography activity.
“As a rule, illicit transactions constitute or below 1% of total cryptography activities. Although the resolution of these problems is essential, largely labeling the negative crypto is inaccurate and counterproductive.”
Chain-analysis data shows that around 0.14% of all crypto transactions, some 50 billion dollars involve illegal activity, with an increase in stablecoins as an illicit payment mechanism.
Stablecoin issuers retaliate, with the T3 financial crime unit led by Tron, a group including Tron, USDT-Issuer Tether and TRM Labs freezing more than $ 100 million in illic funds.
Jardine also noted that the organizations of the application of laws hiered the Darknet markets mainly according to their scale and their involvement in the fentanyl trade.
Its presence considerably increases the probability that a black market attracting the attention of the police, he said, because the fight against drugs is a priority for international police.
“The markets have in a way different levels of sensitivity to fentanyl sales,” he said. “Some people claim that they do not do so, so not the police sellers; some claim not to do it, but they do it. Some will sell precursor products but not finished products.”
Indeed, one of the most recent busts on the Darknet market was the Nemesis online market. The American department for controlling foreign assets of the Treasury (OFAC) specifically cited the role of the market in the fentanyl trade as the reason for the bust.
And, therefore, the OFAC has sanctioned a certain number of cryptographic portfolios linked to its operator, Behrouz Parsarad: 44 BTC addresses and 5 XMR wallets.
