How Bitcoin Led to the Demise of the Largest Child Porn Site - Ep.95

Jonathan Levin, the cofounder and chief strategy officer of Chainalysis, describes how the blockchain analytics firm helped the IRS identify the administrator of the largest child porn website in the world, which ultimately led to the arrest of the administrator, Jong Woo Son, and 337 site users across 38 countries. The work also led to the rescue of 23 minors from their abusers. He describes how the site used Bitcoin, how they used Bitcoin transactions to identify the users of the site, and how law enforcement worked with exchanges. We also discuss what impact privacy technologies could have on similar investigations going forward, as well as Levin's perspective on the overall utility of Bitcoin despite it being used for illicit activity. Thank you to our sponsors! CipherTrace: http://ciphertrace.com/unchained Crypto.com: http://crypto.com eToro: http://etoro.com Newsletter: Get Laura’s newsletter on the top crypto stories of the week’s plus a preview of exclusive podcast content! Signup Here: http://eepurl.com/ga8ub5 Episode links: Chainalysis: https://www.chainalysis.com/ Jonathan Levin: https://twitter.com/jony_levin DOJ press release: https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/south-korean-national-and-hundreds-others-charged-worldwide-takedown-largest-darknet-child Chainalysis blog post: https://blog.chainalysis.com/reports/chainalysis-doj-welcome-to-video-shutdown Indictment against Jong Woo Son, the administrator of Welcome to Video: https://www.justice.gov/opa/press-release/file/1210441/download Bitcoin laundering: https://www.justice.gov/opa/press-release/file/1210461/download Bitcoin exchanges Welcome to Video recommended + screenshots: https://www.justice.gov/opa/press-release/file/1210451/download Screenshot of the site seized: https://www.justice.gov/opa/press-release/file/1210446/download Joe Weisenthal’s column about how Bitcoin ETFs would make it easier for people to make illicit Bitcoin transactions: https://twitter.com/TheStalwart/status/1184786875262885890 Weekly news recap links: Bloomberg article summarizing overall race to create a global coin: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-10-16/fed-drags-feet-as-digital-money-revolution-tests-central-banks FT on why Libra members dropped out: https://www.ft.com/content/6e29a1f0-ef1e-11e9-ad1e-4367d8281195 Libra Association signs charter: https://libra.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Libra-Association-Charter-Press-Release-.pdf CNBC article on China’s race to release digital currency: https://www.cnbc.com/2019/10/15/china-races-to-launch-a-cryptocurrency-that-could-rival-facebooks.html?__source=sharebar%7Ctwitter&par=sharebar Fortune article further describing race between Chinese digital currency and alternatives: https://fortune.com/2019/10/16/if-libra-fails-china-wins-the-ledger/ Fed official saying US actively debating digital dollar: https://www.coindesk.com/top-fed-official-says-us-central-bank-actively-debating-digital-dollar Christopher Giancarlo’s op-ed in WSJ: https://www.wsj.com/articles/we-sent-a-man-to-the-moon-we-can-send-the-dollar-to-cyberspace-11571179923 IRS tax form: https://www.coindesk.com/the-irs-will-now-ask-if-you-own-crypto-in-the-1040-tax-form