Darknet Markets Revert to Bitcoin Following Monero Delisting, Says Chainalysis

Darknet marketplaces are returning to Bitcoin as their primary payment method following the delisting of Monero (XMR) from cryptocurrency exchanges. This was revealed in an interview with CoinDesk by Chainalysis cybercrime researcher Eric Jardine.

According to him, the growing popularity of the first cryptocurrency among criminals is occurring amidst a decline in the availability and liquidity of privacy coins.

Before the XMR delistings, Western darknet markets actively used the coin as a primary payment method or alongside Bitcoin. However, after the token’s removal from platforms like OKX and Binance, transactional activity sharply decreased.

Data from BitInfoCharts indicates that the number of daily Monero transactions has nearly halved over the year.

Despite Bitcoin’s resurgence on darknet marketplaces, illicit transactions remain a minor part of overall activity. According to Chainalysis, only 0.14% of transactions (approximately $50 billion) are linked to illegal activities.

Jardine also noted that law enforcement agencies prioritize darknet markets primarily due to their scale and involvement in drug trafficking.

Earlier, on March 4, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control added 44 Bitcoin and five Monero addresses to its sanctions list, associated with the closed darknet marketplace Nemesis Market. Among other things, the platform distributed illegal substances.