US sanctions operator and crypto addresses of darknet marketplace Nemesis, impacting Bitcoin price

From Cointelegraph
March 5, 2025 8:35 pm:

US authorities have sanctioned the operator of a shuttered online darknet marketplace, including his crypto addresses, which recently profited from Bitcoin price fluctuations. Iran-based Behrouz Parsarad established the darknet marketplace Nemesis in 2021, facilitating the sale of illicit services. Parsarad’s crypto addresses received over $850,000 between July 2022 and March 2024.

Blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis reported that the sanctioned property includes 44 Bitcoin (BTC) addresses and five Monero (XMR) addresses. Parsarad sent over $1.6 million in cryptocurrency, with most transactions involving Nemesis. The darknet marketplace had 30,000 active users and 1,000 vendors before being shut down in 2024.

Despite enforcement actions, darknet marketplaces generated over $1.7 billion in revenue in 2024, a slight increase from the previous year. Russian-language darknet markets dominated the ecosystem due to low enforcement risk, while Western darknet markets faced increased enforcement and operational instability. Several exit scams occurred in the Western darknet market scene in early 2024.

Read more at Cointelegraph: US sanctions crypto addresses linked to Nemesis darknet marketplace