Blockchain
Why The Dark Net’s Most Active Market Ditched Bitcoin For Monero
Bitcoin initially became popular as a way to pay for illegal goods on the dark web marketplace the Silk Road. But just recently as cryptocurrencies enter the mainstream media once again, the current most active marketplace on the dark net has ditched Bitcoin in favor of Monero. Here’s why Bitcoin’s use as a dark web […]

Bitcoin initially became popular as a way to pay for illegal goods on the dark web marketplace the Silk Road. But just recently as cryptocurrencies enter the mainstream media once again, the current most active marketplace on the dark net has ditched Bitcoin in favor of Monero.
Here’s why Bitcoin’s use as a dark web currency is diminishing, and why Monero could see a surge in adoption as the one cryptocurrency the government can’t infiltrate.
Without The Dark Web, The Bitcoin We Know Today Might Not Be
Bitcoin price is now trading at nearly $40,000 per » Read more
” href=”https://www.newsbtc.com/dictionary/coin/” data-wpel-link=”internal”>coin. The still young cryptocurrency network might not have made it this far, if not for the Silk Road dark web marketplace created by Ross Ulbritch.
Back when no one know what to pay for Bitcoin or had begun widely using it as a currency, it got an early jump start as a means to pay for illegal goods such as drugs, firearms, or explosives.
Bitcoin got a head start as a currency thanks to the Silk Road dark web marketplace | Source: BTCUSD on TradingView.com
Eventually, the Silk Road was taken down, and Bitcoin lived on. Its role as a currency for the dark web has remained, however, until now.
Related Reading | Alleged Silk Road Drug Dealer Arrested For Using Bitcoin For Money Laundering
According to Twitter chatter, the dark web’s most active marketplace, dubbed the White House Market, has given up on Bitcoin for good, and now only accepts the privacy » Read more
” href=”https://www.newsbtc.com/dictionary/coin/” data-wpel-link=”internal”>coin Monero. But why?
For the first time on the darknet, the most active market does not accept Bitcoin. White House Market uses Monero, a cryptocurrency designed to safeguard the privacy of its previous owners, like cash.
— dark.fail (@DarkDotFail) January 14, 2021
Why Dark Net Marketplaces Prefer Monero Over Other Cryptocurrencies
As Bitcoin takes center stage in the world of finance and its value increases, the value it offers the dark web in terms of privacy is shrinking by the day.
Bitcoin is now an asset that institutions control, and its market cap is approaching $1 trillion. It has the attention of government regulators, and due to its design and popularity, blockchain analytics firms now can trace BTC transactions back to the source with enough accuracy, government agencies have begun tapping them to fight back against crime hidden away behind crypto.
Related Reading | Bitcoin Dark Web Transacted Value Spikes By Over 65% in 2020
Criminals can no longer hide behind what little privacy the top cryptocurrency can provide, despite its usage on the dark web growing year over year in 2020. Instead, the only choice is to look toward privacy coins that obfuscate sender and recipient data.
Will Monero begin to grow now that it is the primary cryptocurrency accepted on the White House Market? | Source: XMRUSD on TradingView.com
Monero is the undisputed king of privacy coins, offering the very best layer of protection over transactional details, which is why the White House Market has selected it as its currency of choice.
Government agencies have become increasingly successful in taking down dark web markets, and it could be due to their increased understanding of the Bitcoin blockchain. Will Monero be enough to keep Bitcoin’s spotlight and the government’s search lights away from the dark web?
Featured image from Deposit Photos, Charts from TradingView.com
Blockchain
Blockchain and crypto will challenge current finance, Nigeria VP says


Nigeria’s vice president, Yemi Osinbajo, delivered a speech at an economic summit on Friday in which he spoke positively of crypto and blockchain.
“There is no question that blockchain technology generally, and cryptocurrencies in particular, will in the coming years, challenge traditional banking, including reserve banking, in ways that we cannot yet imagine,” Osinbajo said on Friday during the Central Bank of Nigeria, or CBN, Bankers’ Committee Economic Summit. “We need to be prepared for that seismic shift, and it may come sooner than later,” he said.
The Nigerian vice president also noted the broadness of the crypto industry, mentioning decentralized finance, or DeFi, in the mix. “Decentralized finance, using smart contracts to create financial instruments, in place of central financial intermediaries, such as banks or brokerages, is set to challenge traditional finance,” he said.
Osinbajo’s speech, which included a number of other points, is posted on his YouTube channel. The Nigerian vice president also tweeted out a video clip highlighting of some of his crypto comments from his talk.
“The point I’m making, is that some of the exciting developments we see call for prudence and care in adopting them and these have been very well-articulated by our regulatory authorities,” he said, adding:
“But we must act with knowledge and not with fear. We must ensure that we are in a position to benefit and in a position to prevent any of the adverse side effects, or any of the possible, even criminal, acts that may arise in consequence of adopting or taking any of these options.”
The comments come in contrast to recent developments in Nigeria. Earlier in February, Nigeria forbade banking interactions with crypto exchanges, as per a ruling from its central bank. The CBN’s governor also called crypto assets illegitimate. Bitcoin recently traded at a significant premium in the region.
Blockchain
‘Bitcoin could reach $1 million or $1, and may do both of those’


While many analysts predict that either Bitcoin could increase to a million or fall to a dollar, a popular businessman and investor based in the US thinks that the asset could do both!
In a recent interview with Joe Kernen at CNBC’s Squawk Box, Internet analyst Henry Blodget of the dot com era fame said:
Bitcoin could go to $1 million… it could also go to $1. And in fact it may do both of those
In addition, Blodget, who also served as the head of the global Internet research team at Merrill Lynch, is unconvinced about the asset’s value proposition. He claimed that Bitcoin as an inflationary hedge and the narrative surrounding its value as ‘digital gold’ were “stories”. He further added:
But the stories that we tell about why relative to the value of gold or other currencies, they’re ludicrous.
In his opinion, Bitcoin can trade just about anywhere because it does not have any fundamental backing. He said that unlike traditional stocks, “which usually does have some relationship ultimately to a fundamental,” of a company, “Bitcoin doesn’t, so that means it can trade anywhere.”
The entrepreneur thinks that crypto exchange Gemini’s CEO Tyler Winklevoss could eventually be “exactly right,” in his forecast that the asset could surge to a million. However, Blodget said:
If people were to decide that for the next couple of hundred years Bitcoin is where you park your money when you take it out of the fiat system, OK, it’s possible.
Interestingly, while crypto Twitter and Bitcoin enthusiasts, in particular, called out the analyst’s criticism, they commended the interviewer’s counter-argument. CNBC’s Joe Kernen seemed to even “speak the language” of the crypto space as one twitter user named @HodlBells noted:
@JoeSquawk I didn’t think you understood the value prop of bitcoin. You do! You’re way ahead of the bulk of your generation. Particularly those who have profited the most off the petro-dollar. Look forward to you speaking their language and translating the future for them! Thx!
— Hodl Bells (@HodlBells) February 26, 2021
Source: https://ambcrypto.com/bitcoin-could-reach-1-million-or-1-and-may-do-both-of-those
Blockchain
Crypto platform NetCents to offer users access to DeFi protocols thru Vesto


NetCents, a cryptocurrency payments company, today announced it has signed an agreement with Vesto.io to pave the way for DeFi access in the NetCents platform.
Vesto, is a San Francisco-based company that has created a platform allowing users to choose from multiple DeFi protocols in a virtual supermarket. NetCents (with regulatory approval) intends on enabling a portal to the Vesto infrastructure from the NetCents wallet in order to facilitate user’s adoption of DeFi investing in an efficient and easy-to-understand interface.
“We have seen the DeFi space explode over the past year, but for it to reach the next level – the tools and the process has to be attainable by the novice crypto investor. We will be adding a layer of simplification to the process so that individuals can have their savings actually working for them without the complexity of the current platforms. Individuals have the right to lend their money at market-based rates instead of getting 1% interest on their savings that the commercial banks are offering.”
– Clayton Moore, NetCents Founder & CEO
LOI
The Letter of Intent (LOI) contemplates a Joint Venture between parties and an option for NetCents to invest in Vesto and hold a significant ownership stake in the company at a future date.
Management of NetCents also informed investors that many of the concepts embraced by these DeFi platforms have not been vetted by the many authorities that regulate financial products. NetCents intends to work together with regulators to navigate this landscape and resolve it with a compliant product.
For Example: Fintech businesses seeking to bring a novel product or service to the market can seek regulatory relief through regulatory sandboxes such as the Ontario Securities Commission’s LaunchPad or the British Columbia Securities Commission’s SandBox.
Furthermore, businesses that distribute, trade, or advise in crypto assets that are securities are required to comply with securities laws (in particular, registration and prospectus requirements), which can be onerous. There are many exemptions for specific types of distributions, trades, and other activities and NetCents intends to research these exemptions rigorously. These exemptions, at a high level, may limit the types of investors that can participate or the investment amounts, or may require the preparation of disclosures to investors and filing of a disclosure document.
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