Chinese businesses selling the chemicals used to make Fentanyl are accepting payment in Bitcoin and Tether, according to an investigative research report published Tuesday by Elliptic.

The blockchain analytics firm specializes in risk management and regulatory compliance. It said an overwhelming majority of pharmaceutical chemical companies it contacted in China that can ship precursors for fentanyl overseas accept cryptocurrencies as a form of payment.

Elliptic found that most of the chemical suppliers it identified used accounts at “three specific exchanges” based outside of China, which were unnamed in the report. The analytics firm said it had notified the exchanges being used by China-based drug suppliers, highlighting hundreds of wallets that had received more than $27 million worth of crypto assets.

Elliptic did not immediately respond to requests for comment from Decrypt.

Fentanyl, a synthetic opioid that’s cheap to produce and vastly more potent than heroin, has been linked to thousands of drug overdose deaths in the United States each year. In 2021, of the U.S.’s more than 106,000 drug overdose deaths, synthetic opioids were involved in around 70,600, according to Go to Source to See Full Article
Author: André Beganski

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