If you care about your financial privacy, you should be using Monero, not Bitcoin.
"The total value of bitcoin transacted on the dark web is up 65% over the year, and 340% over three years, according to a report from Bitcoin technology company Bitfury.
Per data scraped by Bitfury’s Crystal blockchain analytics platform, in Q1 of 2019, dark net vendors raked in a cumulative $240 million in bitcoin—up from $87 million in Q1 of 2017. This figure has leapt higher still in 2020, to $384 million. Even so, as dark net markets continue to gobble up coins despite routine routs by law enforcement, their users’ appetite for bitcoin has (slightly) subsided.
Dark net vendors received 47,000 bitcoin in Q1 of 2020, a 25% reduction from the same bitcoin inflows this time last year. Buyers are defaulting to other cryptocurrencies, so-called altcoins such as monero and litecoin, perhaps in a bid to avoid to escape the purview of the exact blockchain analytics that Bitfury is running.
“These drops in bitcoin received and sent could be due to the growing popularity of altcoin usage by darknet entities,” the report reads. Even so, the total value transacted is rising because Bitcoin’s price is on the up.
Bitfury’s report focuses specifically on Bitcoin, though Crystal can monitor “Bitcoin Cash, Litecoin, Ethereum (with all ERC-20 and ERC-721 tokens), and Tether,” according to Marina Khaustova, CEO of Crystal Blockchain, “but not Monero,” she added."
https://www.forbes.com/sites/colinharper/2020/05/19/bitcoin-dark-web-activity-up-340-since-2017-report/#bdc7591418ed
"The total value of bitcoin transacted on the dark web is up 65% over the year, and 340% over three years, according to a report from Bitcoin technology company Bitfury.
Per data scraped by Bitfury’s Crystal blockchain analytics platform, in Q1 of 2019, dark net vendors raked in a cumulative $240 million in bitcoin—up from $87 million in Q1 of 2017. This figure has leapt higher still in 2020, to $384 million. Even so, as dark net markets continue to gobble up coins despite routine routs by law enforcement, their users’ appetite for bitcoin has (slightly) subsided.
Dark net vendors received 47,000 bitcoin in Q1 of 2020, a 25% reduction from the same bitcoin inflows this time last year. Buyers are defaulting to other cryptocurrencies, so-called altcoins such as monero and litecoin, perhaps in a bid to avoid to escape the purview of the exact blockchain analytics that Bitfury is running.
“These drops in bitcoin received and sent could be due to the growing popularity of altcoin usage by darknet entities,” the report reads. Even so, the total value transacted is rising because Bitcoin’s price is on the up.
Bitfury’s report focuses specifically on Bitcoin, though Crystal can monitor “Bitcoin Cash, Litecoin, Ethereum (with all ERC-20 and ERC-721 tokens), and Tether,” according to Marina Khaustova, CEO of Crystal Blockchain, “but not Monero,” she added."
https://www.forbes.com/sites/colinharper/2020/05/19/bitcoin-dark-web-activity-up-340-since-2017-report/#bdc7591418ed