Cryptomarkets, Trust, and Enforcement: What Have We Learned?

This chapter examines what law enforcement can learn and potentially apply from this research. This chapter also addressed future avenues for cryptomarket research. In general, it is discussed how interventions in cryptomarkets by law enforcement might borrow from this book’s findings. Previous chapters are drawn upon to detail past missteps and suggest improvements based on an evidence-based approach that incorporates agent-based modelling. It is concluded that law enforcement need not opt for market takedowns or the wholesale removal of vast numbers of vendors or buyers but instead pursue a calibrated approach targeting a small number of influential vendors. Law enforcement agencies might additionally consider employing a metagame approach by removing several smaller actors to make room to remove larger players. This chapter also examines the potential positives offered by cryptomarket ecosystems compared to illicit terrestrial networks. In short, the risk mitigation and violence reduction mechanisms of cryptomarkets render them a viable alternative to more dangerous offline markets characterised by the acceptance of violence and the sale of untested and hazardous narcotics (e.g. fentanyl). Finally, this chapter discussed some of the key avenues that future research might pursue to help law enforcement curtail the influence of cryptomarkets, focusing on the need for randomised control trails.