Public key encryption

Digital hashes & signatures

🙋 Questions? (2x)

Bitcoin

Block chain

Is it guaranteed to be anonymous?

In a futile effort to maintain digital anonymity, the defendants laundered stolen funds through a labyrinth of cryptocurrency transactions. Thanks to the meticulous work of law enforcement, the department once again showed how it can and will follow the money, no matter what form it takes. (U.S. Dept. of Justice, 2022)

No, it’s a ledger of every transaction.

🙋 (2x)

Consensus protocols (optional)

Multiple levels of encryption

(like envelope, put in envelope, put in envelope)

🙋 Questions? (2x)

• e.g., What are .onion sites and how are they created?

😖??

• Where is the darknet?
• Is it the same as the deep web?
• Why was it created?
• What’s there?

Is it guaranteed to be anonymous?

No, especially with bad “OpSec.”

In the news

• Russian attempted to block Tor website and (non-public) bridge relays since Ukraine invasion with mixed results in courts and practice.
• Iran instituted an internet blackout during 2022 Mahsa Amini protests; Tor could circumvent.
• China has effectively blocked Tor.

Razzlekhan (Heather Morgan)

FTX

Ulbricht and $TRUMP

On January 21, the administration pardoned Ross Ulbricht, creator of the Silk Road darknet marketplace and a figure deeply entangled with Bitcoin’s history.

The blatant pump-and-dump nature of these tokens could set a precedent for the next four years, signaling that memecoins and similar schemes are acceptable under the current administration. (Thompson 2025)

Also…

• United Arab Eremites bought $500M in Trump cryptocurrency
• pardon’s of Changpeng Zhao and Ross Ulbricht (libertarian favorite), yet not Sam Bankman-Fried (Democrat supporter)
• SEC dropped cases of Justin Sun ($75M in tokens), Kraken, Coinbase, and Gemini (donated to campaign or inauguration).
• Department of Justice dissolved the National Cryptocurrency Enforcement Team

Quiz

1. What’s onions have to ToR (onion routing)?
2. The ______ key is used to digitally sign something.
3. What’s the difference between the deep and dark web?
4. A digital hash/digest of content is like the _____ of a person.
5. Cryptocurrencies use a distributed _____ to keep track of transactions.
6. Is using bitcoin necessarily anonymous?

Wrap up

Write down the most complex or confusing topic that you would like more clarity on.

1. What do onions have to ToR (onion routing)?
2. How could you use a ToR-like system of envelopes to send a message in class?
3. The ______ key is used to digitally sign something.
4. What’s the difference between the deep and dark web?
5. A digital hash/digest of content is like the _____ of a person.
6. Cryptocurrencies use a distributed _____ to keep track of transactions.
7. Is using bitcoin necessarily anonymous?

What topic did you want more clarity on?