“ The alleged administrator of Bitcoin Fog kept the dark web service
running for 10 years prior to the IRS caught up
with him.For a decade, Bitcoin Fog has wanted to obscure the
foundation and destination of its customers'cryptocurrency, rendering it one of the very venerable
institutions in the dark web economy. Now the IRS says it has finally
identified the Russian-Swedish administrator behind that long-running anonymizing system
and charged him with laundering hundreds of millions of dollars worth of bitcoins, much of that was
delivered to or from dark web drug markets. What gave him away?
The trail of his own decade-old digital transactions.
Feds Dismantled the Dark Web Drug Trade—but It's Already Rebuilding
After recent high-profile dark-web drug market takedowns, new vendors already are filling the void.On the dark-web drug market WorldMarket this week,
business proceeds as usual. "Satisfied customer, will be back," writes one user on the item page of a meth dealer
with the handle shardyshardface. "Excellent," reads a plaudit posted by way of a
buyer of the opiate oxycodone. "Bravo," says another for a $5 sample of fentanyl, certainly
one of 18 reviews posted on the product's profile page
within the last week. In every, Empire lists over 18,000 narcotic offerings, including
hundreds for oxycodone alone. ”