Darknet marketplaces are reverting to Bitcoin as their primary payment tool following the delisting of Monero (XMR) from cryptocurrency exchanges, Chainalysis cybercrime researcher Eric Jardine told CoinDesk.

He explained that the growing popularity of Bitcoin among criminals is linked to the decreasing availability and liquidity of privacy-focused coins.

Before XMR was delisted, Western darknet markets actively used the token either as the main payment method or alongside Bitcoin. However, after its removal from platforms like OKX and Binance, transaction activity sharply declined.

According to BitInfoCharts, the number of daily Monero transactions has nearly halved over the past year.

Despite Bitcoin’s return to darknet marketplaces, illicit transactions remain a small fraction of overall activity. Chainalysis data shows that only 0.14% of all transactions (around $50 billion) are linked to illegal activities.

Jardine also noted that law enforcement agencies prioritize darknet markets mainly due to their scale and involvement in drug trafficking.

On March 4, the U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control added 44 Bitcoin and five Monero addresses to its sanctions list, all linked to the now-defunct darknet marketplace Nemesis Market, which was involved in distributing illegal substances.