The term “dark web,” to anyone semi-familiar with the term, tends to conjure up images of illicit business and unsavoury customers. This is a well-earned reputation, with more and more illegal economies migrating to the dark web every year as law enforcement expands their cyber surveillance techniques and capabilities, forcing criminals to look to alternative markets and currencies.
While the dark web isn’t entirely nefarious and clandestine, it is largely that. Below are some of the various ways cryptocurrencies and the dark web are intertwined.
Money Laundering
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Because the dark web is so inextricably linked to illegal economies and nefariousness, it is a good idea, even when browsing for completely legitimate purposes, to do so with a good VPN service. There is a lot to see and do on this unlisted part of the web, and some of what goes on there is inherently good for freedom and humanity, but it is best to protect yourself.
One of the major illegal activities taking place on the dark web is money laundering, with criminals frequently using the dark web to launder the proceeds from illicit businesses. There are various ‘dark wallets’ that allow people looking to launder the proceeds from crime to do so easily and with very few ways to trace the path of the funds or its source.
Terrorist Activities
Terrorist activities, fundraising and propagandizing using social media networks have been heavily cracked down upon over the last several years, prompting a mass migration to the dark web and darknet markets. Here, fundraising is done in secret with cryptocurrencies facilitating a significant percentage of the transactions and funding strategies. Crypto makes it easy for terrorist organizations to raise and store capital without having to rely upon highly controlled and monitored traditional banking systems.
It also makes sure that the identities of any donors are kept secret. Several new crypto coins have emerged over the last several years that tout themselves as more private and secure alternatives to mainstream currencies like Bitcoin and Ether. These have become attractive to criminal and terrorist organizations as governments and mainstream businesses and institutions increasingly legitimize and regulate the larger coins.
Silkroad
Perhaps the original purpose of the dark web, above all others, was to provide a safe space where people could buy and sell drugs. The infamous Silkroad no longer exists, during its heyday, it was one of the primary drug transaction communities and platforms online. The U.S. Department of Justice considered it “the most sophisticated and extensive criminal marketplace [one the web],” where anything from Heroin to DMT could be easily obtained. All of this took place using Tor, a service that made browsing and purchasing anonymously much more effective.
Between 2011 and 2013, the site generated some 600,000 bitcoins in commission fees, which in 2021 would be worth around $18,922,500,000 U.S. dollars. The site’s owner, Ross Ulbricht, is currently serving two life sentences plus forty years for his involvement, and had 175,000 Bitcoins seized upon arrest.
Stolen Art, Artefacts and Jewellery
The problem with stealing art, artefacts and jewellery usually comes down to an inability to find and access the markets for these kinds of ill-gotten items. A secondary problem is how to handle, store and spend the proceeds of the sale. Crypto and the dark web solve both of those problems. dark web “shoppers” routinely bid hundreds of thousands of coins on all manner of stolen heirlooms, works of art and jewellery.
Last year, for instance, jewels were stolen from a museum in Dresden, Germany which almost immediately ended up for sale on the dark web. The heist was the largest one carried out since the Second World War, with the priceless items valued at more than 850 million GBP. The thieves stipulated that the money was to be paid in Bitcoin only.
Conclusion
There are clearly positive and negative sides to the decentralized non-fiat currency revolution. Developing and regulating a reliable store of value that is less vulnerable to economic volatility and confiscation is a worthwhile financial project.
On the other hand, anything that makes it harder for the authorities to track and stop is obviously going to appeal to criminals. Cryptocurrencies are ideal mediums of exchange for anyone looking to obscure their activities and assets from those who would seek to crack down on them and while the world decides what to do about the blockchain conundrum, cryptocurrencies and the dark web will continue to go hand-in-hand.
