Kunal Kalra, 25, agreed to plead guilt to federal charges stemming from his money laundering business and drug trafficking operation. He admitted exchanging up to $25 million in cryptocurrency and cash from darkweb drug traffickers and others looking to launder money. Kalra allowed his customers to use his Bitcoin ATM kiosk.
The White House announced actions to crack down on fentanyl trafficking in the United States through recent private-sector advisories addressed to domestic and foreign businesses in the private sector. The announcement and advisories specifically highlight the role played by both darkweb marketplaces and cryptocurrencies in the international opioid trafficking arena.
In darkweb and cryptocurrency investigations, federal law enforcement agencies routinely rely on the skills and services provided by threat intelligence and blockchain analysis companies such as Flashpoint or Chainalysis. The Drug Enforcement Agency recently awarded Chainalysis with a $134,970 contract for a one year license to their platform and services.
Apollon Market, the market recently featured in various media outlets as the darkweb market with the hacked StockX database, announced that buyers and sellers could now use Monero in addition to Bitcoin when conducting business on the platform. Markets are shifting towards Monero adoption as a result of law enforcement’s ability to investigate and identify the some darkweb vendors through the Bitcoin blockchain.
The IRS, as some noticed on Dread, had a conference wherein they discussed the darkweb and various elements of cycbercrime as it relates to the financial sector. The presentation includes information about Alphabay, mentions DeepDotWeb, and has screenshots of Dread.
In addition to the criminal charges for money laundering, unlawful monetary transactions, and conspiracy, the founder of the BTC-e bitcoin exchange now faces a $100 million civil complaint for monetary penalties owed as alleged violations of the Bank Secrecy Act. The complaint alleges that Alexander Vinnik, one of the exchange’s CEOs, willingly failed to follow AML procedures and failed to report suspicious activity, among other violations.
A federal grand jury indicted a Monmouth County, New Jersey, man for operating a an unlicensed Bitcoin exchange called “Destination Bitcoin” through which the defendant converted more than $2 million dollars of United States currency into Bitcoin. He faces up to five years in prison.
Localbitcoins, one of the services used to purchase bitcoin as anonymously as possible, unexpectedly ended the ability to trade cash for bitcoin. Although users of Localbitcoins have alternative options for buying bitcoin, trading cash for bitcoin was one of the platform’s primary incentives for those concerned with their privacy, such as the users of darkweb marketplaces.