Tracers in the Dark
Over the last decade, a single innovation has massively fueled digital black markets: cryptocurrency. Crime lords inhabiting lawless corners of the internet have operated more freely—whether in drug dealing, money laundering, or human trafficking—than their analog counterparts could have ever dreamed of. By transacting not in dollars or pounds but in currencies with anonymous ledgers, overseen by no government, beholden to no bankers, these black marketeers have sought to rob law enforcement of their chief method of cracking down on illicit finance: following the money. But what if the centerpiece of this dark economy held a secret, fatal flaw? What if their currency wasn’t so cryptic after all? An investigator using the right mixture of technical wizardry, financial forensics, and old-fashioned persistence could crack open an entire world of wrongdoing. Tracers in the Dark is a story of crime and pursuit unlike any other. With unprecedented access to the major players in federal law enforcement and private industry, veteran cybersecurity reporter Andy Greenberg tells an astonishing saga of criminal empires built and destroyed. He introduces an IRS agent with a defiant streak; a Bitcoin-tracing Danish entrepreneur; and a colorful ensemble of hardboiled agents and prosecutors as they delve deep into the crypto-underworld.
Stats for nerds
5recommend
9mentions
9people
2022–2026years
56% recommend44% neutral
Mentions per year
What Hacker News says
- It's not BS though? That's what companies like Chainalysis professionally. This was covered in graphic detail as to how they caught a pedo ring in Andy Greenberg's book Tracers In The Dark.
- Exactly. “Tracers in the Dark” (https://a.co/d/aos3Nka) does a good job of telling that story and a couple of others from the early days of blockchain analytics
- Tracers in the Dark: The Global Hunt for the Crime Lords of Cryptocurrency by Andy Greenberg was exceptionally well researched and told.
- Chip War by Chris Miller. This is a well researched book on the chip war between the US and China
Why We Sleep by Matthew Walker. I loved this book because I learned so many new things about sleep. It also made me more disciplined about my sleeping habits.
Kilo by Toby Muse. The book is about cocaine trade in Colombia. It is eye-opening and generated intense negative emotions at times.
Tracers in the Dark by Andy Greenberg. I love to read about cybersecurity, hackers, etc. so this book was an amazing read.
I read many more books which I loved but keeping this list short. Many of these books were mentioned in the comments on HN!
Edit: fixed the spelling of Colombia
- Tracers in the Dark: The Global Hunt for the Crime Lords of Cryptocurrency by Andy Greenberg
The Afghanistan Papers: A Secret History of the War by Craig Whitlock.
Enjoyed both a lot over the Christmas break.
- This comes just as I’ve finished reading Tracers in the Dark. Pretty interesting stuff. Will be interesting to read more deeply how they were able to track and take down this marketplace.
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