How India’s ‘Most Prolific Darknet Drug Syndicate’ Leveraged Monero to Outsmart Authorities
Crypto's privacy darling just got darker.
Monero—the OG privacy coin—was the weapon of choice for India's largest darknet drug operation, slipping past surveillance like a shadow in Delhi's backstreets. No fancy blockchain analytics could crack this one.
The untraceable hustle
While Bitcoin leaves breadcrumbs, XMR transactions vanish like a VPN disconnecting. The syndicate reportedly moved millions without triggering alarms—proving once again that regulators are playing whack-a-mole with privacy tech.
Meanwhile, Wall Street still thinks CBDCs are the future. Bless their hearts.
“Hard to develop total privacy”
However, experts caution that privacy coins aren't foolproof.
Andrew Fierman, Head of National Security Intelligence at Chainalysis, told Decrypt that "while there are concerns of more criminals moving to privacy coins for anonymity, the vast majority of criminal activity still uses mainstream cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, and stablecoins."
He noted these remain appealing to criminals "for the same reasons they appeal to those using them for legitimate purposes: it's cross-border, instantaneous, and liquid."
But, "It's very hard to develop total privacy,” Fierman told Decrypt. “It's not necessarily the case that privacy coins are completely anonymous."
Privacy coins "operate on an Immutable ledger," meaning "evidence of criminal transactions will exist forever,” he said.
The NCB’s bust follows a four-month investigation during which authorities tracked Edison’s operations, which allegedly included over 600 drug consignments to cities like Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi, and Himachal Pradesh.
Local media reported that Edison was "currently the largest darknet vendor of drugs in India," sourcing narcotics primarily from UK-based vendor "Gunga Din," believed to be the world's largest LSD supplier.
The agency noted that while Kerala typically sees fewer than 1,000 LSD blots seized annually, Edison was allegedly distributing around 10,000 LSD blots across the country each month.
The NCB’s operation comes amid a global crackdown on cybercrime infrastructure linked to cryptocurrency.
Just this week, the U.S. Treasury Department sanctioned Russian hosting provider Aeza Group, accusing it of facilitating ransomware attacks and darknet drug markets that targeted victims worldwide.
