Every year, thousands of people in the US lose their lives as a result of fentanyl smuggling. Officials are now struggling to keep up with the rapid changes in the way fentanyl is trafficked. Of late, there has been a major rise in the use of digital currency for fentanyl trafficking. Elliptic, a private firm that specializes in crypto-tracking analysis has confirmed this.
The US government is now more focused on tracking cryptocurrency payments by notorious Mexican drug cartels, for purchasing fentanyl ingredients. Most of it is bought from Chinese chemical companies.
The Drug Enforcement Agency is also acquiring crypto-tracing software in order to identify wily money launderers.
American diplomats have also raised the fentanyl issue with Chinese and Mexican representatives
Besides cartels, dark web forums are also being tracked, as this is where Americans buy the drug.
Needsless to say, cryptocurrency allows drug cartels to move enormous sums of money in an instant without any hand to hand transactions, all because of this decentralized system. Even though they still prefer cash for local operations, digital currency is being used at both supply and demand ends of drug smuggling. This of course, is beyond the scope of traditional methods of law enforcement. Hence, the authorities are adapting to modern technologies.
