Binance revealed that it has played a central role in dismantling Incognito Market, a notorious darknet drug marketplace that facilitated more than $100 million in illegal narcotics sales, according to US and Taiwanese law enforcement agencies.

The takedown was part of a broader international investigation, codenamed Operation RapTor, which targeted the darknet platform’s operators and financial infrastructure.

Incognito Market Shut Down

According to Binance’s official press release, Incognito Market enabled the sale of over 1,000 types of illicit drugs, including heroin, cocaine, and methamphetamine, and relied heavily on cryptocurrencies to process transactions while obscuring users’ identities.

Despite the platform’s use of encryption, privacy tools, and a custom-built internal payment system, investigators working with Binance’s Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) were able to trace transactions on the blockchain to individuals connected to the marketplace. Binance’s FIU assisted in mapping the flow of illicit funds and identified several crypto wallets tied to the platform’s operations.

The investigation ultimately led to a Taiwanese national, identified by the surname Lin and known by the alias “Pharaoh,” who supervised the operation and reportedly earned millions in profits. Lin was arrested and later pleaded guilty in a US federal court to charges including narcotics conspiracy, money laundering, and the distribution of misbranded drugs.

Meanwhile, Binance’s FIU also froze over $3.5 million in related crypto assets, which law enforcement said helped cripple the marketplace’s financial operations.

Binance has assisted in similar investigations before, including efforts with Europol to dismantle a child exploitation platform by tracking internal payment systems and identifying users. In an official statement, Nils Andersen-Röed, Global Head of Binance’s Financial Intelligence Unit, stated,

“This case is a powerful reminder that blockchain offers no safe haven for criminal activity. Even with sophisticated privacy tools, every crypto transaction leaves a digital trail, which is increasingly vital in today’s law enforcement investigations. Cross-border collaboration and public-private partnerships are no longer optional – they are essential.”

T3 FCU Targets Crypto Crime

Besides Binance, another major player in the digital asset space has reported similar enforcement success.

The T3 Financial Crime Unit (T3 FCU), a joint initiative by Tether, Tron, and TRM Labs, announced in the March update that it has frozen over $100 million in illicit crypto assets since its launch in August 2024.

Working with global law enforcement, the unit has targeted crimes including money laundering, fraud, and terrorism financing. T3 FCU has analyzed millions of transactions globally and monitored over $3 billion in USDT activity to disrupt financial crime in the crypto industry.

US Vice President JD Vance on May 28 said Operation Chokepoint 2.0 is “dead,” using his address at the 2025 Bitcoin Conference in Las Vegas to declare the end of federal regulatory actions that targeted the crypto sector and the beginning of legislative support for this industry.

Vance said the President Donald Trump administration has ended what he described as the “weaponization of federal regulations” against digital assets and stated that such policies would not return. He added:

“Let my words today serve as [Operation Chokepoint 2.0’s] obituary. We reject the Biden administration’s legacy of death by a thousand enforcement actions.”

Operation Chokepoint 2.0 is a term used by crypto advocates to describe a pattern of actions by banking regulators allegedly aimed at limiting access between the crypto industry and the US banking system. 

Vance highlighted that the Trump administration had removed Gary Gensler from the chair of the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and pledged to continue removing officials with similar enforcement strategies.

He said:

“We reject regulators, and we fired Gary Gensler. We’re going to fire everybody like him.”

‘Operation Chokepoint 2.0’ is dead

In the same speech, Vance called for a legislative approach to crypto policy, stating that the administration aims to secure the role of digital assets, particularly Bitcoin, within the US financial system. 

He said:

“We want our fellow Americans to know that digital assets, and particularly Bitcoin, are part of the mainstream economy and are here to stay.”

Furthermore, Vance endorsed efforts in Congress to pass a comprehensive market structure bill for crypto and warned that failure to enact regulatory clarity would risk pushing the $3 trillion industry offshore. 

He added that the best way to ensure that crypto is part of the mainstream economy is through legislation that propels the value represented by Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.

The Vice President also referenced the GENIUS Act, saying the legislation aims to expand the use of dollar-pegged stablecoins and mandate transparency requirements. 

He also argued that stablecoins do not threaten the US dollar’s status but instead serve as a “force multiplier” to extend its global reach.

Bitcoin adoption and economic framing

Vance estimated that 50 million Americans already own Bitcoin and said that number could double in the near future. Additionally, he placed Bitcoin within the context of broader economic and political themes, framing its adoption as a hedge against different scenarios. 

He stated: 

“Crypto is a hedge against bad policymaking from Washington, no matter what party is in control. It is a hedge against skyrocketing inflation, which has eroded the real savings rate of Americans over the last four years.”

He also criticized what he described as ideological discrimination in the private financial sector, suggesting that decentralized networks protect Americans from viewpoint-based restrictions on access to finance.

The speech further solidified the Trump administration’s shift toward pro-crypto policymaking, aligning federal executive priorities with a legislative agenda focused on stablecoin regulation, market structure clarity, and the integration of digital assets into the traditional financial system.

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A sweeping international law enforcement initiative has led to the arrest of 270 individuals and the seizure of over $200 million in cash and digital assets, according to a statement released Thursday by the US Department of Justice.

Dubbed Operation RapTor, the effort targeted dark web vendors, buyers, and administrators involved in the illicit trafficking of opioids, particularly fentanyl, and other narcotics.

DOJ’s Operation RapTor

According to the official press release, the operation was carried out with the help of 10 countries – including the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, South Korea, and Brazil – and marks the most significant takedown in the history of the DOJ’s Joint Criminal Opioid and Darknet Enforcement (JCODE) team. More than two metric tons of drugs were confiscated, including 144 kilograms of fentanyl-laced substances and over 180 firearms.

The JCODE, Europol’s European Cybercrime Centre (EC3), and international partners pooled intelligence gathered from previously dismantled darknet markets such as Nemesis, Tor2Door, Bohemia, and Kingdom Markets. These takedowns provided critical investigative leads that enabled a series of synchronized, yet independent, enforcement actions across jurisdictions.

Interestingly, this operation also included the first sanctions by the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) as a JCODE member agency. Iranian national Behrouz Parsarad, founder of Nemesis Market, was sanctioned and indicted on drug trafficking charges in Ohio following the market’s seizure.

In a statement, FBI Director Kash Patel said,

“By cowardly hiding online, these traffickers have wreaked havoc across our country and directly fueled the fentanyl crisis and gun violence impacting our American communities and neighborhoods. But the ease and accessibility of their crimes ends today.”

OFAC Targets Nemesis

Earlier in March, the U.S. Treasury’s OFAC sanctioned 49 crypto addresses linked to Nemesis, a darknet marketplace which is accused of facilitating a $30 million drug trade. Iranian national Behrouz Parsarad, the alleged founder, is accused of operating the platform, collecting fees, laundering money, and supporting the sale of fentanyl, fake IDs, and hacking services.

Nemesis operated from 2021 to 2024 and served more than 30,000 users during this period. Authorities seized its servers last year along with $102,000 in crypto. Despite takedowns like this and others such as Genesis and Hydra, darknet marketplaces generated $1.7 billion in revenue in 2024.

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