Share this article
WATCH: Chainalysis Chief Economist Wants Crypto to Move Past ‘Buying Drugs on the Silk Road’
Chainalysis’ chief economist sits down with Daniel Kuhn to talk about how to cut crypto use in the cybercrime ghetto.
By John Biggs
Updated Sep 13, 2021, 11:45 a.m. Published Nov 28, 2019, 3:00 p.m.
Make us preferred on Google
CoinDesk sat down with Chainalysis’ chief economist Philip Gradwell to get a macro-view of the crypto market.
STORY CONTINUES BELOW
Don't miss another story.Subscribe to the Crypto Daybook Americas Newsletter today. See all newsletters
Speaking at Invest: NYC 2019, Gradwell said the crypto-sleuthing firm has found that only 30 percent of bitcoin is actually liquid. Of this value exchanged, more and more of it is going towards legitimate merchant services, a departure from crypto’s first use case: “buying drugs on the Silk Road.”
“In recent months there has been a lot of disruption to [dark] markets, law enforcement has taken down a number of those sites. That’s actually reduced their size in the overall crypto economy,” Gladwell said.
One notable example was the investigation and closure of Welcome to Video, the world’s largest child exploitation site, according to Gladwell. Chainalysis participated in the global cooperative effort to shutter the site and arrest the alleged perpetrators, by analyzing crypto transactions used to pay for child pornography.
“We were able to help the [IRS and Homeland Security] understand were the bitcoin came from or where it got cashed out to,” Gradwell said. “You shouldn’t underestimate the amount of non-blockchain investigations,” that contributed to the effort, he added.
Gradwell also addressed how law enforcement might respond to the distribution of privacy-protecting coins, such as Zcash, as well as the open industry debate as to how much personally identifiable information exchanges should keep under Financial Action Task Force’s “Travel Rule.”
“The industry needs to work out what the right solution is,” Gradwell said.
More For You
KuCoin captured a record share of centralised exchange volume in 2025, with more than $1.25tn traded as its volumes grew faster than the wider crypto market.
What to know:
- KuCoin recorded over $1.25 trillion in total trading volume in 2025, equivalent to an average of roughly $114 billion per month, marking its strongest year on record.
- This performance translated into an all-time high share of centralised exchange volume, as KuCoin’s activity expanded faster than aggregate CEX volumes, which slowed during periods of lower market volatility.
- Spot and derivatives volumes were evenly split, each exceeding $500 billion for the year, signalling broad-based usage rather than reliance on a single product line.
- Altcoins accounted for the majority of trading activity, reinforcing KuCoin’s role as a primary liquidity venue beyond BTC and ETH at a time when majors saw more muted turnover.
- Even as overall crypto volumes softened mid-year, KuCoin maintained elevated baseline activity, indicating structurally higher user engagement rather than short-lived volume spikes.
More For You
Bitcoin miners chase AI demand as Nvidia says Rubin is already in production
Miners that look like infrastructure companies may win, while those that rely on pure mining margins face a tougher 2026.
What to know:
- Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang announced the Vera Rubin platform, which promises five times the AI computing power of previous systems, is now in full production.
- The Rubin platform will feature 72 GPUs and 36 CPUs per server, with the ability to scale into larger systems containing over 1,000 chips.
- The AI boom is reshaping the crypto market, with bitcoin miners pivoting to offer infrastructure services to AI customers, impacting data-center space and costs.
Top Stories
