Lords of Crypto Crime

*This book is published in the US as Tracers in the Dark. The text is unchanged for this edition.*

'Reads like a thriller... These stories are amazing.'

-Michael Lewis, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Big Short

'A master-class in the tactics and countertactics of financial cyberwarfare, laid out in a tense, exciting technothriller.'

-Cory Doctorow, author of Little Brother

'An absorbing narrative than unfolds like a mystery'

-New York Times Book Review (Editors' Choice)

'Immensely readable... a romp through some of the most infamous dark web takedowns in recent memory.'

-Washington Post

Dirty cops, trafficking rings, globe-spanning, nail-biting undercover detective work and the biggest takedown of the online narcotics market in the history of the internet. This is the story of how a single innovation has fuelled the world's criminal financial markets, and unleashed a cat-and mouse game like no other.

Over the last decade, crime lords inhabiting lawless corners of the internet have operated more freely - whether in drug dealing, money laundering, or human trafficking - than their old school counterparts could have ever dreamed of. By transacting in currencies with anonymous ledgers, overseen by no government and beholden no bankers, they have robbed law enforcement of the primary method of cracking down on illicit finance: following the money.

But what if this dark economy held a secret, fatal flaw? What if their currency wasn't so cryptic after all? Could an investigator using the right mixture of technical wizardry, financial forensics, and old-fashioned persistence uncover an entire criminal underworld?

Lords of Crypto Crime is the gripping, insider story of how a brilliant group of investigators took down the biggest kingpins of the dark web.