White House Advisory Reports Trading of Illicit Substances Through Cryptocurrencies
The White House released two advisories on drug purchases in the U.S. Wednesday, via the communications that marked particular implications to the trading with cryptocurrencies in buying drugs.
It was executed with other government agencies as a part of a broader cooperative effort “to end the fentanyl epidemic.” As such, methods of payment were studied, including virtual currencies.
Fentanyl is a widely used drug variant that is 80 to 100 times stronger than morphine.
A while ago, the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) blacklisted 3 Chinese nationals for money laundering and breaching of drug smuggling laws.
Another man has been sentenced in San Diego, California, who was reported to have been selling drugs over dark web markets for cryptocurrencies.
Department of Justice announced on Monday, that the accused had pleaded guilty to adopting a number of different marketplaces such as Alpha Bay, Trade Route, Abraxas, Evolution, Outlaw Market, and Dream Market to deal in fentanyl, carfentanil, ketamine, oxycodone, amphetamine, and other drugs through various pseudonyms,
The advisories, responded to financial institutions and digital payment platforms, stating that “convertible virtual currencies,” especially Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Monero, have been and will be potentially used for illicit substance purchases on the dark evasive nets.
The advisory states, that convertible virtual currencies can be conveniently liquidated into stable fiat currencies such as the dollar and ultimately be used on darknet markets.
The advisory states,
A close observation of sensitive financial data implied that domestic illicit drug manufacturers, dealers, and consumers used online payment platforms and convertible virtual currency to purchase precursor chemicals or completely synthesized narcotics generally sourced from China.
The July 2017 takedown of dark market AlphaBay by U.S. officials is a brilliant example of the past interactions between virtual currencies and illicit substances.
The authority methods of tracking and discovery payments for illicit substances via CVC’s such as wallet and IP addresses along with transaction hashes are also included in the recent reports.
Earlier, the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) blacklisted three Chinese nationals for money laundering and drug smuggling laws.
The sentencing of Gornik and other active responses against similar events demonstrates the commitment of Security Investigative teams and federal partners to bring these criminals to justice. Looks like the governments will aggressively take measures against those that continue to violate the law and jeopardize the safety of communities by selling deadly opioids and other dangerous drugs via the Dark Web.
