A published Crystal Blockchain report talks about a 2100% increase in the popularity of bitcoin mixers on darknet over the past year.
In the first quarter of 2020, $67 million BTC was received from the darknet in bitcoin mixers, which is 64 million more than last year. The reason for this phenomenon is the tightening of the rules of some exchanges that require identity documents, Decrypt reports.
“This is likely in response to increased regulation and verification processes for exchanges, leading darknet bitcoin owners toward other services to obfuscate the source of their coins,” — the report stated.
Accordingly, the number of bitcoins sent from darknet to exchange accounts decreased by $ 9 million. Although it remains highly likely that after mixing BTC still went to the exchanges.
It is worth noting that the amount of Bitcoins sent from the exchanges to the darknet has more than doubled: from $ 36 million to $ 73 million. Therefore, users are more concerned about sending illegal Bitcoins to exchanges, not hiding their origin, and not sending Bitcoin from exchanges to the darknet .
This may be a reaction to the policies of exchanges, which are increasingly paying attention to analytical blockchain services for tracking bitcoin transactions and catching criminals. Recently, Coinbase began offering its internal analytical services, which may have scared the market.
