According to the latest report on cybercrime by European law enforcement agency Europol, Bitcoin remains the currency of the dark web, the shift towards more privacy-related cryptocurrencies notwithstanding.
The report ‘Internet Organised Crime Threat Assessment 2019’ said bitcoin was still the most frequently used currency but the authors said that the shift towards so-called privacy coins such as Monero would continue.
According to Europol, an estimated $1 billion had been spent on the dark web so far this year which are mostly on malware for phishing attacks or ransomware, as these types of cybercrime continued to grow.
The report recommended that law enforcement agencies and the judiciary must continue to “develop, share and propagate knowledge on how to recognise, track, trace, seize and recover cryptocurrency assets”.
Law enforcement must continue to build trust-based relationships with cryptocurrency-related businesses, academia, and other relevant private sector entities, to more effectively tackle issues posed by cryptocurrencies during investigations.