Forget Bitcoin: there's a new digital currency that criminals like

TOKYO (Aug 29): Forget Bitcoin. There’s a new digital currency that is surging as online drug-dealers begin adopting it to conduct business with more anonymity.

The two-year-old currency Monero has more than quadrupled this month after gaining support from prominent websites that anonymously peddle drugs. It spiked to as much as US$10 ($13.60) on Sunday after AlphaBay, one of the most popular sites for buying drugs like liquid LSD and hybrid cannabis, said last week it will begin accepting the currency on Sept 1. The total value of all Monero in circulation pushed past US$100 million on Monday, up from about US$25 million at the end of last month, according to coincap.io.

“Following demand from the community, and considering the security features of Monero, we decided to add it to our marketplace,” AlphaBay announced on Reddit last week. “We expect this to cause a spike in the price, so if you are an investor, now is the time to purchase Monero.”

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