Tracers in the Dark: The Global Hunt for the Crime Lords of Cryptocurrency
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- Type：Epub+TxT+PDF+Mobi
- Create Date：2022-11-29 19:21:35
- Update Date：2025-09-06
- Status：finish
- Author：Andy Greenberg
- ISBN：0593663675
- Environment：PC/Android/iPhone/iPad/Kindle
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Summary
From the award-winning author of Sandworm comes the propulsive story of a new breed of investigators who have cracked the Bitcoin blockchain， exposing once-anonymous realms of money， drugs， and violence。 "[An] absorbing narrative。。。 Each key section of the book。。。 unfolds like a compact mystery。" （New York Times Book Review）
Over the last decade， a single innovation has massively fueled digital black markets: cryptocurrency。 Crime lords inhabiting lawless corners of the internet have operated more freely--whether in drug dealing， money laundering， or human trafficking--than their analog counterparts could have ever dreamed of。 By transacting not in dollars or pounds but in currencies with anonymous ledgers， overseen by no government， beholden to no bankers， these black marketeers have sought to rob law enforcement of their chief method of cracking down on illicit finance: following the money。
But what if the centerpiece of this dark economy held a secret， fatal flaw？ What if their currency wasn't so cryptic after all？ An investigator using the right mixture of technical wizardry， financial forensics， and old-fashioned persistence could uncover an entire world of wrongdoing。
Tracers in the Dark is a story of crime and pursuit unlike any other。 With unprecedented access to the major players in federal law enforcement and private industry， veteran cybersecurity reporter Andy Greenberg tells an astonishing saga of criminal empires built and destroyed。 He introduces an IRS agent with a defiant streak， a Bitcoin-tracing Danish entrepreneur， and a colorful ensemble of hardboiled agents and prosecutors as they delve deep into the crypto-underworld。 The result is a thrilling， globe-spanning story of dirty cops， drug bazaars， trafficking rings， and the biggest takedown of an online narcotics market in the history of the Internet。
Utterly of our time， Tracers in the Dark is a cat-and-mouse story and a tale of a technological one-upmanship。 Filled with canny maneuvering and shocking twists， it answers a provocative question: How would some of the world's most brazen criminals behave if they were sure they could never get caught？
Over the last decade， a single innovation has massively fueled digital black markets: cryptocurrency。 Crime lords inhabiting lawless corners of the internet have operated more freely--whether in drug dealing， money laundering， or human trafficking--than their analog counterparts could have ever dreamed of。 By transacting not in dollars or pounds but in currencies with anonymous ledgers， overseen by no government， beholden to no bankers， these black marketeers have sought to rob law enforcement of their chief method of cracking down on illicit finance: following the money。
But what if the centerpiece of this dark economy held a secret， fatal flaw？ What if their currency wasn't so cryptic after all？ An investigator using the right mixture of technical wizardry， financial forensics， and old-fashioned persistence could uncover an entire world of wrongdoing。
Tracers in the Dark is a story of crime and pursuit unlike any other。 With unprecedented access to the major players in federal law enforcement and private industry， veteran cybersecurity reporter Andy Greenberg tells an astonishing saga of criminal empires built and destroyed。 He introduces an IRS agent with a defiant streak， a Bitcoin-tracing Danish entrepreneur， and a colorful ensemble of hardboiled agents and prosecutors as they delve deep into the crypto-underworld。 The result is a thrilling， globe-spanning story of dirty cops， drug bazaars， trafficking rings， and the biggest takedown of an online narcotics market in the history of the Internet。
Utterly of our time， Tracers in the Dark is a cat-and-mouse story and a tale of a technological one-upmanship。 Filled with canny maneuvering and shocking twists， it answers a provocative question: How would some of the world's most brazen criminals behave if they were sure they could never get caught？
Reviews
andrew y
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Reporting。 Very good reporting。 Even excellent reporting。
Philip Bolger
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A superb look into the overlap of cryptocurrency， crime， and law enforcement from 2008 to 2022。
Ryan
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This is a great book from an amazing technology journalist -- specifically covering the tools and procedures used to trace cryptocurrency transactions （e。g。 Bitcoin） for law enforcement purposes。Despite the public protestations of law enforcement （and some Bitcoin advocates） Bitcoin isn't even as private as regular banking systems -- it's a global public transparent ledger of pseudonyms， fully linkable through connections to external systems， patterns， and "metadata" analysis。 We're currently li This is a great book from an amazing technology journalist -- specifically covering the tools and procedures used to trace cryptocurrency transactions （e。g。 Bitcoin） for law enforcement purposes。Despite the public protestations of law enforcement （and some Bitcoin advocates） Bitcoin isn't even as private as regular banking systems -- it's a global public transparent ledger of pseudonyms， fully linkable through connections to external systems， patterns， and "metadata" analysis。 We're currently living in a privacy dark age valley of "too late for physical bearer assets， too soon for Zero Knowledge online assets"。 Cryptocurrency has an edge in being permissionless and censorship resistant in many cases， but it's far from private as deployed today。This book shows through tracing dark net markets participants （Silk Road， AlphaBay， and others）， exchanges， and other bitcoin and cryptocurrency transactions what the true state of privacy on the blockchain is。 A major element is the founding and history of Chainalysis， one of the first dedicated tracing firms， from the tracing of loss Mt Gox exchange assets， but there's also extensive coverage of various law enforcement agencies and how they use traditional forensic accounting techniques， as well as chain analysis tools and subpoena and other investigatory powers， to find undesirable activity。 It was a little disappointing that de-anonymizing Monero transactions and other more privacy focused transactions wasn't more of a focus， but this is probably not covered as much in open forums。The book and writing style focuses on personalities and events， rather than technology， so it's approachable and interesting for a general audience， but as an expert in the field （I work for a cryptoasset insurance company and have been involved in anonymous electronic cash since the mid 1990s）， it's technically accurate as well。Strongly recommend。 。。。more
Joe
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Nicely confirms my thought back in ~2013 that Bitcoin's global， permanent ledger made transactions the opposite of anonymous。 Disappointing that to first approximation， all "commerce" conducted via cryptocurrencies is for child porn， drugs， arms or ransomware payments。 Nicely confirms my thought back in ~2013 that Bitcoin's global， permanent ledger made transactions the opposite of anonymous。 Disappointing that to first approximation， all "commerce" conducted via cryptocurrencies is for child porn， drugs， arms or ransomware payments。 。。。more
Ben Rothke
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Nothing makes a book so readable when you have a great writer and a compelling story。 When it comes to writing about cryptocurrency， perhaps no one is more eminently qualified to write on the topic than Andy Greenberg。 Greenberg is a long-time writer for Wired and has written extensively on security， privacy， and information freedom。 In Tracers in the Dark: The Global Hunt for the Crime Lords of Cryptocurrency （Doubleday）， Greenberg has written a fascinating book on cryptocurrency。 While there Nothing makes a book so readable when you have a great writer and a compelling story。 When it comes to writing about cryptocurrency， perhaps no one is more eminently qualified to write on the topic than Andy Greenberg。 Greenberg is a long-time writer for Wired and has written extensively on security， privacy， and information freedom。 In Tracers in the Dark: The Global Hunt for the Crime Lords of Cryptocurrency （Doubleday）， Greenberg has written a fascinating book on cryptocurrency。 While there are countless cryptocurrencies， the book focuses on the most famous one， Bitcoin。 The book focuses on the mechanics of crypto， and while it has revolutionized financial services， it has spawned a massive opportunity for illicit activities。 His previous book Sandworm: A New Era of Cyberwar and the Hunt for the Kremlin's Most Dangerous Hackers， reads like this one。 Stories that sound like they are out of a Tom Clancy or Robert Ludlum novel， but are very nonfiction， and reflect a more significant problem facing society。Bitcoin was initially touted as being completely anonymous。 But Greenberg shows how research by cryptography and security researcher Sarah Meiklejohn， then of the University of California， San Diego， and Chainalysis， a blockchain analysis firm， poked holes in the claims that Bitcoin is entirely anonymous。 At the same time， many of those who sold illegal goods on the dark web shielded themselves from this perceived anonymity。 It was the work by Chainalysis that led to countless arrests。In the book， two early cryptocurrency figures are highlighted。 Ross Ulbricht， known online as Dread Pirate Roberts， created and ran the infamous darknet website Silk Road from 2011 until he was arrested in 2013， and Alexandre Cazes， who ran the other infamous darknet site AlphaBay。Both Ulbricht and Cazes were exceedingly bright， yet incredibly arrogant。 And with all of the myriad security controls they put in place to ensure their anonymity， both were caught using innocuous law-enforcement techniques。So can there be a completely anonymous cryptocurrency？ In 2013， researchers from Johns Hopkins University created Zerocoin， a proposed privacy extension to Bitcoin。 That eventually morphed into a standalone protocol named Zcash。 Matthew Green， one of the founding Zcash scientists， notes that privacy is a really hard problem。Green has seen too many claims of future Bitcoin upgrades or add-one that would solve its anonymity issues， but yet another innovation ultimately defeated that in blockchain analysis。 He remains hopeful that his Zcash will eventually get there one day。There are countless benefits to anonymity， both in communications and banking。 There is also a dark side to it。 One area that has thrived is child pornography。 The book details the work of IRS Special Agent Tigran Gambaryan and Chris Janczewski of IRS Criminal Investigation （CI）， whose work on blockchain analysis resulted in the takedown of a Welcome to Video。 That was the most significant cryptocurrency-funded child sexual abuse material （CSAM） marketplace that anyone in law enforcement had ever seen。The early days of cryptocurrency were filled with the irrational exuberance of the complete anonymity of the cryptocurrency。 Many of the founders had equal hubris and were oblivious to the underlying flaws in their cryptosystems。 Greenberg tells a fascinating story of some of the key players and how they were ultimately hoisted by their own petard and came crashing down。The story Greenberg tells so well encompasses a mixture of technology， international law enforcement， financial forensics， greed， and more。 While his technology experience is deep， Greenberg has written a remarkable work that will undoubtedly be of interest to those both with a technical background and not。 This is a perfect book for a long plane ride， as it is engrossing and hard to put down。The antagonists in the book were certain that various levels of anonymity would protect them and keep their crypto secure。 They added additional layers of control， yet still were brought down。 This is a fascinating story of technology in general and Bitcoin specifically。 And it is one of the most interesting and compelling books that you will read this year。 。。。more
Pearlyn Lim
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