Bitcoin remains the number one currency in the Dark Web

Bitcoin was popularized somewhat unwillingly by the Silk Road black market early in its history. It is clear that even today, it remains the most used cryptocurrency on the Dark Web, despite the rise of anonymous cryptos.

Dark Web crypto podium: Bitcoin, Monero, Ethereum
In a long report of 65 pages, the institute nonprofit research RAND investigated the role of cryptomonnaies in underground activities of the darknet .

The research was sponsored by the Electric Coin Company (ECC), the founding company of Zcash (ZEC) . And although the study is focused on the latter, other cryptocurrencies are also analyzed, including the essential Bitcoin .

All cryptos combined, the report explains that the vast majority of transactions made with these digital currencies are completely legitimate . However, there are three main cases of illicit use of crypto assets:

The bleaching of silver;
Trade in illicit goods and services ;
Financing of terrorism .
What is ultimately surprising is that two of the three main cryptos used for this traffic have no option to anonymize transactions, and these are therefore public and pseudonymous . These 3 cryptocurrencies, which constitute almost 98% of the traffic observed by the RAND institute are:

Bitcoin (and Bitcoin Cash) for 59% ;
Monero for 27% ;
Ethereum (ETH) for 12% .
Litecoin (LTC) and Zcash (the subject of the study) are far behind with 1% each.

Bitcoin also dominates dark internet forums
In addition to the presence of cryptocurrencies as an accepted means of payment in announcements of illegal products / services, the RAND institute also used data from the Dark Web Monitor (DWM) tool . This allowed them to know which cryptocurrencies were the most known and discussed in the discussion forums of the Dark Web.

There too the king of cryptocurrencies reigns without sharing, whether they are English-speaking forums or not, Bitcoin is the main subject of conversations , far ahead of Ethereum and other cryptos.

Even though Monero seems to be gaining popularity, Bitcoin remains the most used and known crypto in the Dark Web. It is also surprising to find Ethereum prominently in these activities, while cryptos with anonymization functions like Dash or Zcash are still very marginal.