The crypto market had its ups and downs during the past seven days. After various price falls in the past week, the total market cap is recovering fast.
Currently, it stands at a price of $142 billion, while most larger coins are in the green.
Bitcoin (BTC) has once again passed the $4,000 price resistance, despite a significant price slump that happened on Monday, March 25, when the cryptocurrency slipped to $3,934.
Compared to last week, Bitcoin noted a slight price fall of .27 percent. However, the numbers are improving since the start of the month.
For now, the second largest coin according to market cap, Ethereum (ETH), is in the green, although this week's price fall hit this cryptocurrency harder, and ETH is currently struggling to pass the $140 price resistance.
Ripple's XRP, on the other hand, being one of the few coins on the charts in the red, is not doing so well at the moment.
Considering the repeated fluctuations on the crypto market, it remains unknown in which direction BTC will head next, and whether the other altcoins will follow.
J-CODE Seizes $4.5 Million in BTC in Dark Web Bust
More than 60 people were arrested in a dark web operation led by the U.S. Joint Criminal Opioid and Darknet Enforcement known as J-CODE.
According to a release by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, as a member of the J-CODE team, the operation was conducted from mid-January to March 12.
The joint efforts of several U.S. agencies led to 61 arrests, shutting down 50 dark web accounts, seizing almost 300 kilograms of drugs and $4.5 million in cryptocurrency, among other things.
The authorities also seized almost $2.5 million in cash and $40,000 worth of gold.
The operation, called "SaboTor," targeted international drug dealers who were operating on darknet markets and is the second one for the J-CODE team.
Last year, in a coordinated operation called Operation Disarray, eight people were arrested.
Woman Accused for Bitcoin Murder-for-Hire Is Considering a Plea Deal
Tina Jones, 32, infamously known for allegedly hiring a hitman to assassinate her former lover's wife, is now offered a plea deal.
News about the plea deal was shared to the public by one of Jones's attorneys, Stephen Hall. Without disclosing too much information, Hall said that Jones was offered a significant amount of prison time.
Either she will accept the plea by April 24, or the case will go to court. Supposedly, Jones is considering the offered plea by the prosecutors.
Jones was accused of hiring a hitman via the dark web, for which she paid $10,000 in Bitcoin. Her case was discovered accidentally by CBS's '48 Hours' program, while they were investigating another dark web case.
Allegedly, Jones was trying to hire a hitman to murder her ex-lover's wife, and she gave explicit instructions on how she wanted the hitman to execute the crime.
If she is found guilty, Jones could serve a maximum sentence of up to 40 years in prison.
Dream Market Shut Down?
Earlier this week, rumors about the impending shutdown of Dream Market-one of the top markets on the dark web-started circulating online.
Reddit users were initially doubtful whether this was true or not. However, as news outlets report, after six years of operating this could be the end of Dream Market.
The market is apparently not supporting the creation of new accounts anymore and shows a message saying that it will shut down at the end of April.
The message also states that the dark web's most infamous marketplace will be transferring its service to a partner company.
See Dark Web News' coverage on this developing story here.For now, the mentioned partner company is still not in operation, as the link provided by Dream Market cannot be opened.
Some believe the unexpected shut down has something to do with the large dark web bust done by J-CODE, in which a substantial amount of cryptocurrency was seized and 50 dark web accounts were closed, as mentioned above.
Dark Web Scammer Earned 200 BTC in Typosquatting
A darknet scammer allegedly earned 200 Bitcoins in a scam related to fake domain names, which is a technique known as typosquatting.
It relies on common typos when users search for a website on the internet.
A recent report published by Digital Shadows, a cyber threat intelligence company, reveals information about the case in which a scammer or a group of scammers allegedly made $792,000 in Bitcoins by using the typosquatting technique over the period of four years.
Researchers from Digital Shadows stumbled upon a network of these typosquats, or in other words, domains that look similar to the original ones, but with typos in them.
The criminals can earn money by running ads and accepting payments from visitors after they stumble upon the fake websites.
The company cannot verify these claims. They do, however, warn that the threat of these typosquats is higher on the dark web and .onion domains because of their complexity.
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That's it for our summary of this week's major crypto news headlines. This is the 39th post in our crypto news series. Catch up on the latest installments here: