The amount of payments in Bitcoin on illegal sites can reach $ 1 billion

Analysts at Chainalysis reported that the volume of payments in Bitcoin to buy illegal goods on a darknet this year could reach a record high and exceed $ 1 billion.

It is reported that at the moment the volume of such payments has already reached $ 515 million. The maximum amount of payments in Bitcoin at illegal sites of the darknet was recorded in 2017 and amounted to $ 872 million. Last year, the volume of such payments decreased slightly due to a significant drop in the cryptocurrency market.

The researchers noted that the largest trading platform on the darknet is the Hydra website. In this case, most users of such platforms buy drugs.

Interestingly, although Bitcoin is not an anonymous cryptocurrency, it was he who became the most popular means of paying for goods on the illegal darknet sites. In second place in popularity is the anonymous cryptocurrency Monero.

Hannah Curtis, senior information products manager at Chainalysis, said that while payments are increasing, the share of transactions related to illegal transactions is constantly declining. If in 2012, 7% of all bitcoin operations were associated with violation of the law, now this figure has dropped to 1%.

Note that recently the International Financial Action Task Force on Money Laundering (FATF) has published new recommendations that should help prevent money laundering and terrorist financing.