Bitcoin
Mixer Use on Darknet Surged in First Quarter of 2020: Report
Data published by blockchain
analytics service Bitfury Crystal revealed a significant increase in the use
of bitcoin transaction mixers between the last quarter of 2019 and the first
quarter of 2020.
According to the report, in dollar terms the increase was
of 294%. The data was gathered by tracing direct and indirect bitcoin
transactions between clusters “owned by darknet entities, as well as
non-darknet and unidentified entities." The report reads:
- "The
amount of bitcoin sent to mixers by darknet entities rose significantly
this year — from 790 total bitcoin in Q1 2019 to 7,946 bitcoin in Q1
2020. The same growth was also observed in USD — an increase from $3m in
Q1 2019 to $67m in Q1 2020. This indicates a rapid adoption of crypto
mixing services by darknet entities."
The authors add that from their
analysis, cryptocurrency exchanges enforcing know-your-customer and
anti-money laundering checks are “becoming less popular as a way to withdraw
bitcoin from darknet entities.”
