Extended delays and high transaction costs reduce Bitcoin’s popularity on the dark web.
Cryptocurrency cybercriminals have a new favorite digital asset. Bitcoin was originally the most dominant cryptocurrency used by cybercriminals. However, the reports from Recorded Future, show that Litecoin is about to take over from Bitcoin.
The Silver To Bitcoin’s Gold
After a survey was done on forums, 150 message boards, and, marketplaces on the dark web, analysts concluded that Litecoin would take over Bitcoin on the dark web.
Although many initially thought that Monero would be the next preferred cryptocurrency for cybercriminals, the research proves otherwise.
The popularity of Bitcoin on the web has been dropping slowly since 2016. Many people said that the high cost of transactions and extended delays are not encouraging and the cybercriminals aren’t left out.
The delay in transactions is as a result of the incredible growth Bitcoin experienced within a short time. Litecoin has a faster transaction window making it a safer option for the dark web. It is also cheaper compared to Bitcoin.
Litecoin supports cryptocurrency exchanges from all over the world, and even if it uses the same algorithm as Bitcoin, it is still faster.
Introduced in 2011, Litecoin was developed through the original source of Bitcoin and was intended to be a more superior version.
On 30% of the sites analyzed, Litecoin was the preferred payment method by cybercriminals. The second most common was Dash trailing from 20%. Bitcoin cash was in third place with about 13%.
The survey on the dark web revealed that Ethereum was less popular than Litecoin. Dominating only 9% of the dark web. The last on the list was Monero with about 6%.
The researchers concluded that in the next twelve months, Litecoin will take over from Bitcoin as the preferred altcoin payment method globally.
