Dropgangs and Dead Drops: Report Highlights Evolving Darknet Market Opsec

Since the creation and subsequent takedown of the darknet marketplace the Silk Road, the hidden market ecosystem has exploded with inventive solutions that promote private voluntary exchanges. According to recently published darknet market (DNM) research, the cat and mouse game continues with vendors inventing new ways to bolster online black market activities. In the last … Read more

South African Officials Create Regulatory Working Group Dedicated to Cryptocurrencies

The Minister of Finance of South Africa, Tito Mboweni, explained in a letter on Jan. 2 that the region’s government has created a regulatory working group dedicated to cryptocurrencies. According to Mboweni, the working group includes representatives from multiple South African agencies and aims to produce a comprehensive regulatory response to the growing digital asset … Read more

Study Finds Less Than 40% of BTC Addresses Are Economically Relevant

The number of unique addresses on the Bitcoin Core (BTC) network is constantly growing but only 37 percent of them are “economically relevant,” according to a recent study by Chainalysis. The vast majority of them – 86 percent – are controlled by service providers and the rest are used by private investors. Another key finding … Read more