Tracers in the Dark: The Global Hunt for the Crime Lords of Cryptocurrency (2024)

Table of Contents
Bottom Line Review FAQs

Book written byAndy Greenberg

Book review byRick Howard

Bottom Line

I recommend this nonfiction book for the Cybersecurity Canon Hall of Fame.

Review

This is the best cyber crime book I have read in the last seven years. I would put it in the same cybercrime Hall of Fame bucket as 2012's "We Are Anonymous" and "Kingpin," 2014's "Spam Nation," and 2016's "Future Crimes." The author, Andy Greenberg, is a longtime tech and security writer and has been working for Wired magazine since 2014. He's also an author of three books, one a New York Times bestseller in 2012 called "This Machine Kills Secrets" about WikiLeaks, a second in 2019, a cybersecurity canon hall of fame book called "Sandworm," about the Russian cyberattacks against Ukraine from 2014 to 2017, and now, this book.

According to Greenberg, "The book is about the advent of cryptocurrency tracing as a law enforcement investigative technique." What that means is that if you had any notion that cryptocurrency transactions in general, and Bitcoin transactions in particular, were anonymous, Greenberg completely shatters that idea. He documents the research of Sarah Meiklejohn (a university researcher), Tigran Gambaryan (an IRS Special Agent), Chris Janczewski (an IRS Special Agent) and Michael Gronecker (The CEO of Chainalysis) and then tells the stories of how law enforcement used those research techniques to investigate some of the most successful cyber crime operations in recent years.

  • Silk Road: An criminal marketplace that at its peak was "moving $15 million in narcotics annually.
  • The criminals behind the Colonial Pipeline attacks.
  • Mt. Gox (The Bitcoin Exchange): One of the biggest players, now in bankruptcy because criminals stole $350 Million in bitcoin.
  • BTC-e: "Mysterious bitcoin-trading platform that seemed to exist nowhere and be run by no one."
  • Alpha Bay: Another criminal marketplace where at its peak, had over 200,000 users and over 400,000 listings for drugs, weapons, stolen data, and other illegal goods.
  • Welcome to Video: Cryptocurrency funded Child Sexual Abuse Materials (CSAM) market.
  • Hansa: Another criminal marketplace.

As Greenberg tells the stories, he also sheds some light on just how Bitcoin actually works (Change addresses, multiple inputs, Bitcoin Nodes, Bitcoin tumblers, Wallet Fees), the techniques researchers use to find the criminals behind illicit Bitcoin transactions (Peeling Chains, Clustering) and some early days trivia about the creator of Bitcoin: Satoshi Nakamoto. He also talks about new cryptocurrency systems (Privacy Coins) where the creators specifically designed the system to thwart block chain analysis like Monero and ZCash.

The cryptocurrency world is a fascinating place occupied by utopian minded libertines concerned with privacy and trying to rid the world of "evil" financial institution middle men but also amoral criminals who try to hide within those systems for profit regardless of the victims they leave behind. Greenberg sheds a giant spotlight on that world and the law enforcement agencies (IRS, DEA, FBI, DOJ, Canada's RCMP, and Europol) and commercial firms (Chainalysis) investigating it.

It is a fantastic read.

Tracers in the Dark: The Global Hunt for the Crime Lords of Cryptocurrency (2024)

FAQs

What is the story of tracers in the dark the global hunt for the crime lords of cryptocurrency? ›

Tracers in the Dark: The Global Hunt for the Crime Lords of Cryptocurrency is Andy Greenwood's exploration of how law enforcement in the US and around the world have adjusted to the technology changes that have been brought about by the rise of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.

What is the book about cryptocurrency crime? ›

Tracers in the Dark: The Global Hunt for the Crime Lords of Cryptocurrency.

Is Tracers in the Dark Fiction? ›

It's a true crime novel about how these crypto-crimes are solved through tracing crypto payments and unveils exactly how Bitcoin is quite the opposite of what it was thought to be.

What is the story of the hunters in the dark? ›

English School teacher Robert Grieve wins a satchel's worth of money and decide to take a journey deeper into the wilder side of Cambodia. Coming up against a scheming American, a crooked police officer and a darker side of the country, Grieve follows his journey to a dramatic climax.

What is the story of the Dark Hunters? ›

The Dark-Hunters are immortal warriors who sell their souls to the Greek goddess Artemis for an Act of Vengeance against the one who murdered them. [3] Once they've had their revenge, they are dedicated to defending mankind against Daimons (a psychic race cursed by Apollo)[4] and other preternatural enemies.

What is the dark truth about cryptocurrency? ›

Money laundering with crypto is the process of taking illegally obtained money, turning it into digital currencies, obscuring the origin, and then sending the coins on a digital journey that is hard to trace, before withdrawing it as clean and legitimate funds.

What is a crypto crime? ›

It is a crime that is an example of cybercrime related to theft (or the otherwise illegal acquisition) of cryptocurrencies and some of the methods or security vulnerabilities commonly exploited.

How much crypto money was stolen? ›

Hackers more than doubled their cryptocurrency spoils in the first half of 2024 compared with a year ago, a report from blockchain research firm TRM Labs showed. The report said hackers looted crypto valued at $1.38 billion between Jan. 1 and June 24, more than double the $657 million during the same period a year ago.

Are the Dark Hunter books connected? ›

The Dark-Hunter, Lords Of Avalon, Were-Hunter, Dream-Hunter, Hellchaser, and Chronicles Of Nick series all happen within the same universe and their stories connect. A single book can include elements from multiple parts of each sect of this vast world.

How many books are in the Dark Olympus series by Katee Robert? ›

How many books are in the Dark Olympus series? There are 8 books in the Dark Olympus series.

Is The Dark game nonfiction? ›

This book is a true account of spying in the US from the Revolutionary War through the end of the twentieth century. It surprises you with fascinating stories and is illustrated with many photographs. Of special interest are accounts of women spies and their lives.

What is the Netflix series about crypto? ›

When the young founder of a collapsing cryptocurrency exchange dies unexpectedly, irate investors suspect there's more to his death than meets the eye. Watch all you want.

What is the best book to read about cryptocurrency? ›

  • 'Cryptoassets'
  • 'Blockchain Revolution'
  • 'The Book of Satoshi'
  • 'The Basics of Bitcoins and Blockchains'
  • 'The Blockchain Developer'

What was the Save the Children scandal crypto? ›

Save the Kids was a cryptocurrency token and pump and dump scheme launched in 2021, which was marketed as a charity token meant to give a percentage of the transaction fee to a Binance-operated charity.

What is the largest cryptocurrency theft? ›

The heist involved 173,600 Ether worth just under $595 million and $25.5 million in USDC. U.S. officials stated that a North Korea-backed hacking group, Lazarus Group, was responsible for the theft. A month later, Binance recovered $5.8 million of the stolen funds, but it remains the largest hack in history.

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