The Department of Homeland Security is working hard to bring down the activities of drug cartels that are either entering or doing business in the U.S. To do this, it’s striving to track all the crypto and bitcoin cartels use to engage in transactions.
Cartels May Be Using Bitcoin
Such cartels are trafficking several deadly drugs that ultimately make their way across the U.S.’s now non-existent border and wind up in the homes of Americans that become sick or dead from the substances. Among the most dangerous drugs being sold by the cartels is fentanyl, which has led to the deaths of hundreds of thousands of deaths in the nation.
Homeland Security is run by Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, who is currently facing impeachment efforts from House republicans due to his lack of standing and safety procedures regarding the border. It’s odd that now, suddenly, after several years of not caring about the status of the border and letting immigrants flood their way into the U.S., he’s got a concerned face about what’s going on.
He’s commented that he, along with Joe Biden, are working hard to gain support from China (where fentanyl is largely produced) in stopping the dangerous substance from entering the U.S. He said in an interview:
We’re hoping that the negotiations that we are commencing with China’s representatives will actually create some space for us to address with our Chinese counterparts the scourge of fentanyl precursors.
Homeland Security is clearly feeling the pressure, but many are criticizing the agency for acting too late. They also say the efforts representatives have previously enforced are not strong enough to halt the ongoing problems and dangers that are taking place at the American border.
One such person is Lisa Leap, who claims to have lost her daughter Katie Wagner in 2021 to a fentanyl overdose. This occurred four months after Wagner left rehab and she was allegedly working to turn over a new leaf. Leap commented:
She was a fun person. She loved life. She lived life to the fullest, and she lived life [on] her own terms. If she had a choice, she would still be here… A lot of people like to disregard drug addicts, but they don’t realize that these people are somebody’s loved ones.
She further stated that the Biden administration is simply not doing enough to stop the drug epidemic in the country.
Fentanyl is Killing Everyone!
In addition, situations such as these don’t help the crypto space given that many politicians and anti-digital currency crowds like to cite bitcoin and other forms of crypto as being tied to illicit practices (i.e., drugs and gun trafficking).
Fentanyl is now believed to be a main killer of Americans, taking more than 70,000 lives a year.