A proxy for crime involving bitcoin use? An analysis of U.S. Attorney press releases

Bitcoin is a popular asset in darknet markets due to its censorship-resistant nature and growing liquidity. The Block previously analyzed that 93% of the largest darknet markets support bitcoin as a payment method and 44% of these markets exclusively support bitcoin payments.

While the U.S. government does not regularly publish organized reports of crimes associated with the use of bitcoin, the Department of Justice does publish press releases of news involving bitcoin. While these releases are but a fraction of total crimes committed in the U.S., we believe they can be used as a proxy to measure the historical use of bitcoin in criminal activities.