Darknet, cryptocurrency and two intersecting health crises

These even include teenagers who run Bitcoin drug businesses on the darknet.

A transnational task force of both the U.S. and Europe - the Joint Criminal Opioid and Darknet Enforcement, or J-CODE - combats the complex and deadly threat of online darknet drug sales in opioids, in particular fentanyl, with the assistance from the U.S. FBI, the DEA, the USPIS, ICE of Homeland Security Investigations, the CBP, the DOJ, the DOD and Europol.

For a progress report regarding the work of the J-CODE, U.S. Senators Maggie Hassan, Dianne Feinstein and John Cornyn asked the U.S. attorney general's office and the FBI in a letter whether the DOJ has a system that tracks indictments and investigations related to crimes involving the darknet and opioids; if authorities have been able to determine which countries opioids are coming from on the darknet; and whether there are technology companies that provide secure or encrypted communications that don't cooperate with law enforcement with respect to drug trafficking.

According to Chainalysis' recent Global Crypto Adoption Index, Eastern Europe accounts for more global darknet market activity than any other region, with most of the darknet peer-to-peer crypto and trading transaction activity occurring on Hydra Marketplace, which can only be accessed with an anonymized browser like The Onion Router, or TOR.About The Onion Router.

TOR is the most popular means by which people access darknet sites that are encrypted and hidden from traditional search engines, allowing users to interact with a high degree of confidentiality.

The anonymity of the darknet has fostered crimes such as narcotics trafficking and money laundering with the use of cryptocurrency.

Criminals prefer using the darknet coupled with cryptocurrency tumblers or mixing services, which are transmitted person-to-person with no oversight by governments or central banks, to obscure the trail back to the fund's original source while paying for illicit goods and services.

Reportedly, Hydra, the largest darknet market, has been planning to expand into the English part of the darknet by launching Eternos, a new darknet called AspaNET that will be an alternative to TOR.Conclusion.

In a DEA announcement, "The Department of Justice, through the Joint Criminal Opioid and Darknet Enforcement team, joined Europol to announce the results of Operation DisrupTor, a coordinated international effort to disrupt opioid trafficking on the Darknet." Law enforcement officials arrested 179 people and seized more than $6.5 million in cash and digital currency, and 500 kilograms of drugs in a worldwide crackdown on opioid trafficking on the darknet.

"The FBI wants to assure the American public, and the world, that we are committed to identifying Darknet drug dealers and bringing them to justice. But our work does not end with today's announcement. The FBI, through JCODE and our partnership with Europol, continues to be actively engaged in a combined effort to disrupt the borderless, worldwide trade of illicit drugs. The FBI will continue to use all investigative techniques and tools to identify and prosecute Darknet opioid dealers, wherever they may be located."The views, thoughts and opinions expressed here are the author's alone and do not necessarily reflect or represent the views and opinions of Cointelegraph.