Report: The popularity of bitcoin mixers has increased significantly.

The popularity of Bitcoin mixers among users of darknet services is growing rapidly. This is saidin the report of the cryptanalytic unit of Bitfury Crystal Blockchain.

Researchers concluded that the share of bitcoins sent to darknet services by mixers grew to 20% in the first quarter of 2020. A year ago, this figure was only 1%.

At the same time, the share of BTC sent to crypto exchanges with mandatory user verification decreased from 24% in the first quarter of 2019 to 13% in the first quarter of 2020.

“Most likely, this happens in response totoughened regulation and mandatory verification introduced by exchanges. As a result, darknet users use various services to hide the source of their coins. ”, Said Crystal Blockchain representatives.

Among the various types of services, the popularity of bitcoin mixers is growing fastest.

During the first quarter of 2020, darknet participants switched to 7946 BTC bitcoin mixers. A year earlier, this figure was 790 BTC.

The cost of coins transferred to bitcoin mixers is growing rapidly.

“At a time when more and more exchanges are implementingFATF requirements, darknet users try to avoid the risks of disclosing their activities on these sites. To hide the activity on the darknet, they began to prefer mixing services ”, Said Crystal Blockchain representatives.

Regarding the total value of bitcoins,involved in darknet services, in Q1 2020 it slightly decreased compared to the same period last year. Experts at Crystal Blockchain do not rule out that this is due to the growing popularity of altcoins.

Earlier, Crystal Blockhain said that CoinJoin coin mixing technology significantly complicates the tracking of bitcoin transactions.