Blockchainย Tech analytics startup Elliptic realizedย that Chinese corporations selling fentanyl precursors take large sums of digitalย currency payments, primarily in Bitcoinย (BTC) (BTC) and tether (USDT).ย
This information underscores the difficulties law enforcement has in the digital era in preventing the use of digitalย currency in illegal transactions.
Reportsย by the company, over 90 percent of the Chinese enterprises polled by Elliptic that deal in fentanyl precursors accept digitalย currencies as payment. Several of these enterprises likewise provide the ingredients to make other synthetic opioids, such as amphetamines and methamphetamines.
There has been a dramatic boostย in the number of transactions involving these enterprises, with over $27 Million in digitalย currency sent to wallets connected to chemical suppliers.ย Money like this canย potentially buy the fentanyl precursors required to make tablets with a $54 Billion street value.
Bitcoinย (BTC) payments comprised 66 percent of the total, with tether transactions on the Tron network making up 21%. Additionally, 13 percent of all payments wereย created using tether transfers on the Ethereumย (ETH) network, whereas just 1 percent was done via any other digitalย currency.
Elliptic has uncovered these illegal endeavors and notified digitalย currency exchanges of the participation of specific digitalย currency wallets. The goal is to increase transparency and safeguard the Bitcoinย (BTC) market against money laundering.
In China, fentanyl precursors are often purchased using Bitcoinย (BTC), highlighting the persistent difficulty of stopping illegal activity online.
