Even though cryptocurrency has numerous advantages, it also has its dark side. On the dark web, cybercriminals are using cryptocurrencies for illegal activities and money laundering.
Understanding exactly why scammers are pushed to cryptocurrencies and discovering which assets are used often on the dark web is what’s fascinating. To trade more effectively, you may consider using a trusted trading platform like Immediate Circuit.
What Motivates Cybercriminals to Utilize Cryptocurrencies?
The anonymity of cryptocurrencies is superior to that of fiat money. Consider transferring funds via a bank. The recipient will see your name, and other people will keep your payment information.
Cryptocurrencies handle this by masking personal information and simply displaying wallet addresses in transactions. Your name and belongings can be displayed on the transaction list while using ordinary currency, but not when working with cryptocurrencies.
You can move cash around in secrecy while protecting your identity, making it tough for others to locate you. Fraudsters use cryptocurrencies to covertly shift stolen funds. They could use Bitcoin to purchase narcotics or pay for ransomware treatments.
Using crypto, they can even finance evil activities like terrorism. This makes it easier for them to escape being apprehended by law enforcement.
Some Commonly Used Cryptocurrency for Dark Web
Monero
Monero is a privacy coin that prioritizes protecting user information, unlike the majority of other cryptocurrencies. More than only names and phone numbers are concealed. Even your wallet address is kept private when you do a Monero transaction.
“Stealth addresses,” or one-time addresses that are destroyed following a single transaction, are used by Monero to accomplish this. It’s quite difficult to follow a person because they use a different address each time.
These protected addresses must be used by all Monero traders. In addition, “ring signatures” are used by Monero to conceal amounts and public keys in transactions. Around 79% of dark web markets support Monero payments, according to a 2021 analysis by Holland FinTech.
Yes, more than 91% of sites accepted Bitcoin, but a roughly 80% acceptance rate indicates that hackers prefer Monero.
Attackers using ransomware also want Monero payments in addition to Bitcoin. If victims pay in Monero rather than Bitcoin, some even lower the ransom. This is likely a result of Monero being a privacy coin that provides complete confidentiality.
Zcash
Another well-liked privacy coin is Zcash. Zcash allows you to conceal your wallet address during transactions, just like Monero does. The difference with Zcash is that you have a choice. You can either use a transparent, open address or a covert, personal one.
It resembles a semi-private form of Bitcoin. In either case, Zcash keeps you anonymous, which is why criminals are interested in it. Perhaps Zcash’s semi-private nature explains why cybercriminals don’t prefer it as much.
It’s possibly because Monero is more widely used and provides anonymity to everyone that it is more successful.
Bitcoin
Not only are normal markets the ones where Bitcoin (BTC) is most widely used. On the dark web, it’s also very popular. Many sketchy products, including malware, drugs, firearms, and other illicit items, are purchased using Bitcoin.
Even illicit funds are concealed using it. It is challenging to track the money path when unscrupulous actors demand a ransom in Bitcoin. However, compared to Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash is not as popular on the dark web.
The ease of use and speed of Bitcoin Cash may be why criminals prefer it the wallet address could someday be used to determine who is using it. It’s not simple, but it is possible. In reality, most cryptos are only somewhat secret.