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this post was submitted on 28 Mar 2024
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I'm not sure what you mean by this? Crypto is used specifically because it is difficult to trace transactions, so I doubt there is a clear public record of the transactions, it wouldn't be used for the vast majority of drug sales if it were so easily traceable.
The difficulty comes from figuring out who owns which address/wallet. But transactions are entirely public.
See https://help.coinbase.com/en/coinbase/getting-started/crypto-education/what-is-the-bitcoin-blockchain for a simple explanation. Anyone can trace any bitcoin/cryptocoin or whatever from address to address. But that doesn't tell you who owns the addresses (which is where the drug users come in).
Once you figure out who owns specific address, you can trace every one of their transactions. It's part of crypto being a public, decentralised network.
That sounds...completely the opposite of the bullshit of what I've heard from cryptobros lol. But thanks for the info, though I'm still not sure how crypto can be used to smuggle drugs if it is all as public as this article claims it is.
It's public but if your country doesn't regulate cryptocurrencies heavily, you might be able to use it to anonymously move money. Sure it's public, but you don't know who 0xdeadbeef2537494946 is