us authorities block bitcoinIn the latest turn of events, the United States, US authorities block Bitcoin and Litecoin addresses owned by a group of three unidentified Chinese nationals dealing drugs in the country.
The US Department of Treasury in a notification confirmed that the eleven (11) Bitcoin and one (1) Litecoin address had been blacklisted on account of Opioids trafficking in the country.
The notification further reveals that three Chinese nationals were using these Bitcoin and Litecoin addresses for an international drug trafficking ring, This ring is responsible for opioid dissemination and the related death in the U.S.
The notification explains that using these cryptocurrency addresses the group identified as the Zheng DTO was providing custom-made drugs to the United States citizens.
These drugs were reportedly shipped through different methods, including the mail and U.S postal services. However, the detection of the drug was avoided through the custom-tinkering of the drugs.
The notification furthers that using chemical engineering the group was making drugs which were undetectable yet even more effectively potent than the original formula of the drugs.
The payments were, of course, then processed through cryptocurrency wallets in Bitcoin before they were sent back to the international drug trafficking accounts in China and Hong Kong.
The US authorities have been slapping blacklist bans on the cryptocurrency wallets addresses in a number of different scenarios. However, all the scenarios are based on one type of criminal activity or another.
In the past, wallet addresses owned by Iranian national cybercriminals and different drug and terrorism mafias and cartels have been blocked by the U.S authorities.
Although such measures do not directly affect the cryptocurrency status in the country, some experts do worry that a growing number of such activities can result in a stricter cryptocurrency regulation and an eventual blanket ban in the country.
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