Analysis

February 14, 2019

The crypto detectives

The startup Elliptic is on a mission to weed out the crypto-criminals — and the team are not afraid to get their hands dirty.


Carly Minsky

9 min read

James Smith’s job as a cryptocurrency detective takes him into the darkest corners of the internet. In order to track down the criminals using digital currencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum, he needs to live in their world. His team, he says, participates in “every criminal service we can find”. This includes “drug marketplaces or firearm vendors”.

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