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Many of these articles seem to gloss over the fact that bitcoin is the currency of choice for darknet-type transactions.

• uncoder0 9y ago
  It was. Monero and ZCash are taking that role now.
  • XR0CSWV3h3kZWg 9y ago
    Are there any places that publish data about what cryptocurrencies darknet markets are using? I'm interested in the overall trends, but not enough to do my own research.
• MatthaeusHarris 9y ago
  That's exactly what "Regulatory Arbitrage" means. The author calls it out explicitly.
• XR0CSWV3h3kZWg 9y ago
  Yeah it's odd that they include > Bitcoin allows you to make transactions online when Visa does not. but conveniently leave out the people that care about that the most. Most criminals can not safely engage with banking systems or money transfer services. Bitcoin functions roughly as both of those. darknet markets are what originally gave bitcoin value, and they are the reason it won't go to zero (unless another cryptocurrency eclipses it)
  • celticninja 9y ago
    You live in a first world economy with banking facilities available to you. some people in your country will be unable to access these same banking facilities and many millions more in other countries are in the same position, bitcoin lets them have a similar level of control of their money and lets them use online services that would be otherwise difficult to obtain. Re: darknetmarkets, many have moved on to other more privacy focussed coins, but they were a valuable use case for bitcoin.