Looks like "cryptocurrency" is the only game in town if you want to move dark money discreetly -
INTERACTIVE
Watch this extorted money get lost in the expanse of the blockchain
Keith Collins July 17, 2017
The paradox of bitcoin is that it’s both public and anonymous. Every bitcoin transaction that has ever occurred is recorded on the blockchain, the digital ledger that organizes the currency, which can be viewed by anyone. Determining who owns the bitcoins behind those transactions, however, can be impossible if the owners are careful.
The hackers behind the recent Petya/NotPetya ransomware attack, which shut down critical services in Ukraine before spreading to computers all over the world, used bitcoin to receive payments from their victims. And because all of the victims were told to send their ransom payments to the same bitcoin address, those transactions are particularly easy to view in aggregate in the bitcoin wallet associated with it.
In total, about $10,000 in ransom payments were sent to that account, which was undoubtedly being closely watched by law enforcement agencies worldwide. The point at which bitcoin can go from being anonymous to identifiable is when someone tries to turn it into real currency by withdrawing it through an exchange, so no one expected the money to ever leave that account. But then, on July 4, it did. The money sat in a second account for three days, then began moving again.
This time, the funds appeared to be sent through a bitcoin mixer, also known as a tumbler, which is a complex series of transfers that bitcoin owners can use to obfuscate the paper trail between two or more bitcoin addresses on the blockchain, essentially laundering their money.
more plus an animated explanation:
https://qz.com/1028936/watch-these-bitcoin-ransom-payments-get-lost-in-the-expanse-of-the-blockchain/
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QIWI Wallet Brings Private ‘Blockchain Academy’ to Russia by October
Russian wallet QIWI’s CEO has partnered with IT educator Scream School to open a private ‘Blockchain Academy.’
snip
According to Banki.ru, the basic course will also cover cryptocurrency know-how, as well as the Russian and international regulatory climate.
Lectures will be available on Blockchain infrastructure and cybersecurity, a key topic currently in light of the recent cyberattacks affecting Russian companies.
The digital economy in Russia requires an annual input of 120,000 Blockchain specialists, QIWI adds, as the country becomes ever more welcoming of both Blockchain technology and cryptocurrency itself.
https://cointelegraph.com/news/qiwi-wallet-brings-private-blockchain-academy-to-russia-by-october?utm_content=buffer5784f&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer
....I know zero about this technology, but have read that, for instance, Putin pays his hackers using bitcoin (no, I have no proof) - seems to me that in the very near future, tracking money laundering schemes the way we do now is gonna be obsolete...
Repeat, don't know nothin', just throwing this out here as an fyi/food-for-thought kinda thing -
= new reply since forum marked as read
