“Findings showed that most crypto market customers were drug dealers sourcing stock for offline distribution.

For those enamored by history and believe that there are some aspects of the past which we can learn from in that they invariably repeat albeit in different forms as might nature repeat itself following the mathematical Fibonacci sequence applicable to such sciences as botany, quantum physics, astrophysics and even everyday economics, then seeing the relationship of the ancient Silk Road that began in the Han Dynasty in 207 B.C. to today’s illegal drug trade employing online routes and cryptocurrencies is easy.

Even among globalization’s contents and discontents, on both sides of the aisle there is agreement that online systems have catalyzed trade from petroleum, to arms and illegal drugs. Consider the existence of the dark web and the amount transacted illegally from clandestine online gambling to money laundering and cybersex, and the volume and values might be mind boggling.

This discussion might however be a tad challenging for those whose intellect is imprisoned in a cage labeled “physicality” where one can only imagine trade through caravans and boxes forgetting that even on goods traveling on the backs of slaves the medium of trade is through currencies and on those, from coins to crypto currencies, the possibilities are endless.

The original Silk Road, so named from the trade in silk and the eventual trade routes involving China and the rest of Central Asia had played a critical role in China’s development far beyond the physicality of the Great Wall.

Trade is a big word. What it encompassed for China along the Silk Road was even bigger. Same as today. China’s illegal online gambling and its drug trafficking have expanded far beyond the Great Wall, or even it’s imaginary “nine-dash line.”

Under the Han Dynasty the Silk Road included trade missions as well as explorations beyond China’s borders. Fast forward to the 21st century and it makes sense that some businessmen with a warped sense of history would name their enterprise “Silk Road.”

The modern-day Silk Road is the name of the first online market place in the dark web engaged in trafficking illegal drugs. Far from the brick and mortar facilities many law enforcers are familiar with, Silk Road provides a trading platform that facilitates illegal drug trafficking that is exponentially more efficient when combined with cryptocurrencies as the medium of exchange.

So efficient was Silk Road that current law enforcement as well as legislation have not kept up. The declaration of our police that they are clueless as to how online gambling relates to money laundering and illegal drug trafficking is an eloquent example.

In 2013, the cybercrime division of the Federal Bureau of Investigation was able to take down Silk Road. But typical of online enterprises, within weeks, clones started populating the dark web.

Many hidden in the web’s darkest corners, trading in contraband and what some miss as mere “research chemicals” supposedly for small R&D outfits, chemical laboratories and the academe.

Replacing Silk Road were such dubiously labelled online drug trafficking platforms as “Valhalla” and “Wall Street Market.” Note that in nomenclature alone, the demands imposed on police authorities require radical creative thinking and paradigm shifts.

One seminal study provided by the Rand Corporation saw where cryptocurrency development and online illegal drug trafficking went hand in glove. Findings showed that most crypto market customers were drug dealers sourcing stock for offline distribution.

With the onslaught of Chinese online systems operating in the Philippine economy, many remain unconcerned of its links to illegal drugs. Note however the analysis of one security firm looking at the US opioid crisis. Perhaps it is time we start educating ourselves.

“Dark web markets are viewed as one of the crucial sources of fentanyl and other synthetic opioids. These drugs are often produced in China and sent to users found on the dark net. The packages flowing from China are blamed for compounding the opioid crisis in the United States.”