Mexican Cartels Using BTC, ETH, USDT, Other Tokens to Buy Fentanyl Ingredients: U.S.

Criminal organizations in Mexico have been using several popular digital assets to buy the raw materials needed to make the drug fentanyl, according to the U.S. Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), which cited the use of bitcoin and other tokens in a Thursday advisory.
The cartels “are increasingly purchasing fentanyl precursor chemicals and manufacturing equipment” from China-based suppliers and paying in tokens including bitcoin (BTC), ether (ETH), monero (XMR), and tether (USDT) “among others,” according to an updated FinCEN advisory to alert U.S. financial firms about the network of criminal organizations producing the dangerous narcotic.
The payments often end up in the Chinese suppliers’ hosted wallets at crypto firms, sometimes through a secondary money transmitter, according to the notice.
The new warnings, updating a FinCEN advisory from 2019, reflect problems that had already emerged in sanctions and criminal cases brought by U.S. authorities.
In October, the U.S. Department of Justice charged eight China-tied companies with illegal drug production, distribution and sales of precursor chemicals.
U.S. overdoses involving fentanyl have become the leading killer for those aged 18-45. The chemicals used to manufacture the dangerous drug often come from China and wind their way across multiple borders on their path to U.S. users of the synthetic opioid, which the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) says is 100 times more potent than morphine.
Read More: U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren Calls for Shutdown of Crypto Funding for Fentanyl
Edited by Aoyon Ashraf.
Disclosure
Please note that our privacy policy, terms of use, cookies, and do not sell my personal information has been updated.CoinDesk is an award-winning media outlet that covers the cryptocurrency industry. Its journalists abide by a strict set of editorial policies. In November 2023, CoinDesk was acquired by the Bullish group, owner of Bullish, a regulated, digital assets exchange. The Bullish group is majority-owned by Block.one; both companies have interests in a variety of blockchain and digital asset businesses and significant holdings of digital assets, including bitcoin. CoinDesk operates as an independent subsidiary with an editorial committee to protect journalistic independence. CoinDesk employees, including journalists, may receive options in the Bullish group as part of their compensation.
Jesse Hamilton is CoinDesk’s deputy managing editor for global policy and regulation. He doesn’t hold any crypto.