Deepdotweb admin says $15.5M Bitcoin ‘kickback’ scheme didn’t exist

An arrested Deepdotweb admin has refuted claims that he’d earned 8,000 BTC (worth $15.5 million at the time) through an affiliate marketing scheme for dark web marketplaces, Bitcoin News reports.

Earlier this year, a co-ordinated police effort led to the arrest of several individuals around the world for their role in maintaining Deepdotweb, a dark web portal . It prominently featured an index of dark web marketplaces, including reviews.

It also hosted information related to Tor-hidden services, interviews with prominent dark web developers, and published news of police raids on illegal marketplaces, Bitcoin, and other privacy matters.

Among them were two Israeli citizens, who a US indictment alleges dark web marketplaces paid $15.5 million in Bitcoin via “kickback payments” for referring hundreds of thousands of buyers with affiliate links posted on Deepdotweb.

Deepdotweb arrest for posting ‘illegal’ links is ‘without precedent’

Tal Prihar is one of those men, now on remand in a French prison. He insists that Deepdotweb was merely a news site that allowed dark web users to make informed decisions. He also maintains that he’s the very first to be charged with crimes of supplying links to dark web markets.

Referring to a translated version of an interview in Hebrew, Bitcoin News quoted Prihar saying: “The site was used in general to warn of dangers, poisonings, thefts, and to refer to places we believed to be the least harmful to those who had already decided to use [drugs]. We did not recommend and did not push.”

“We never put up an advertised article to promote the use of one or another site, or any other illegal product […] I have no doubt that in the absence of [Deepdotweb], many more people would have died from online drug purchases,” said Prihar.

He also reportedly refuted allegations that he and alleged his business partner earned 8,000 BTC via “kickbacks.”

Admin says they earned money for legitimate marketing

Prihar maintained that the site earned money from legitimate marketing endeavours for Bitcoin gambling websites, cryptocurrency exchanges, and anonymous VPN software. He stated that the site never charged or agreed to bribes for site listings.

He even claimed to have paid tax on any money earned from the website, and that all of its revenue was deposited into a bank.

“ The site never sold a sponsored article. All the product (technological) reviews it provided were to support the product, and never for a fee,” said Prihar via a Google Translated version of the interview.

“Legal and illegal factors, and you won’t find one to tell you that we [advertised for money], [that we] did not agree to publish without money […]. And that’s why we were considered the world’s most trusted site in the field, and there’s no dispute about that,” he added.

You can read the full interview with Prihar here (in Hebrew).

Big Canadian bank rumored to offer cryptocurrency accounts, Bitcoin trading

The Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) is reportedly developing a cryptocurrency platform, The Logic reports .

If launched, the bank‘s customers will be able to trade in cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin and Ethereum.

The bank, one of the country’s largest, is also looking to let customers open cryptocurrency accounts .

According to The Block , one of the bank‘s patent applications says the following:

But, Jean Francois Thibault, an RBC spokesperson told the Logic that the bank “like many other organizations, files patent applications to ensure proprietary ideas and concepts are protected.” Thibault declined to comment further.

Although little is known at this stage, this is not the first time that a bank has dipped its toes into the blockchain space.

In September 2017, Reuters reported that the bank was experimenting with blockchain in a bid to facilitate payments between its US and Canadian banks.

More recently, RBC and several other Canadian banks started using blockchain technology to allow customers to digitally prove their identity.

Blockchain‘s potential to maximize efficiency and significantly reduce costs has been lauded for some time, so it’s hardly surprising that banks are trying to jump on the blockchain bandwagon.

It’s just ironic that Satoshi Nakamoto originally invented the technology to circumvent the mainstream financial system — but here we are, the suits always take over.

Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey attends Bitcoin meetup in Ghana

Twitter and Square CEO Jack Dorsey has attended a Bitcoin meetup in Ghana just weeks after he invested in a cryptocurrency startup .

Dorsey, who has long defended Bitcoin , has been traveling in Africa , and has so far visited Nigeria and Ghana.

The tech billionaire spoke at a town hall meeting in Nigeria , explaining he was in Africa “to understand the challenges of starting a company here and figure out a way I can support.”

Bitcoin in Africa

The use of Bitcoin in Africa has long made headlines. O ne particular report claims millennials on the continent can’t get enough of the cryptocurrency .

Parts of Africa have come along way in creating successful mobile money payment rails to give the unbanked an opportunity to participate in the formal economy. However, Bitcoin advocates say the cryptocurrency could take this even further .

For example, In July this year, Bitcoin trades soared in Zimbabwe after President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s government banned the use of foreign currencies for settlement of local transactions .

Keen to show his involvement in the continent’s cryptocurrency community, Dorsey publicly thanked fellow Bitcoin supporter and CEO of money transfer service Bit Sika for compiling a ‘ Bitcoin Africa ‘ list on Twitter .

Dorsey loves Bitcoin

Dorsey’s shenanigans should come as no surprise given that he tweeted about Square ‘s cryptocurrency recruitment drive earlier this year, later opening up to TNW about the company ‘s plans for Bitcoin .

At the time, Dorsey said the promise of cryptocurrency and blockchain technology was geared toward empowering consumers by offering unprecedented transparency and control — thus explaining why he envisions them as key components of the online world.

In late October, Dorsey said Twitter would never join Facebook’s controversial ‘ cryptocurrency ‘ Libra, potentially appeasing many staunch cryptocurrency supporters who vouch for decentralized options.