The darknet market processed 640,000 cryptocurrency transactions throughout greater than 400,000 purchaser accounts earlier than an exit rip-off shut it down in March 2024.
Rui-Siang Lin, the 24-year-old Taiwanese founding father of darknet drug market Incognito Market, has been sentenced to 30 years in federal jail for working a $105 million crypto-powered narcotics operation, the U.S. Division of Justice introduced on Tuesday.
Key Takeaways:
– Lin obtained 30 years for operating Incognito Market, which processed $105 million in cryptocurrency drug transactions between 2020 and 2024.
– The platform used a proprietary crypto cost system referred to as “Incognito Financial institution” to deal with BTC and Monero transactions for over 400,000 patrons.
– The sentencing arrives because the DOJ continues to prioritize darknet narcotics circumstances regardless of disbanding its devoted crypto enforcement unit in 2025.
U.S. District Decide Colleen McMahon, presiding within the Southern District of New York, referred to as the case probably the most critical drug crime she had encountered in over 27 years on the bench, labeling Lin a “drug kingpin.”
Lin pleaded responsible in December 2024 to costs together with partaking in a unbroken felony enterprise, narcotics conspiracy, and cash laundering. The court docket additionally ordered $105,045,109.67 in forfeiture.
Working beneath the alias “Pharoah,” Lin ran {the marketplace} from October 2020 by way of March 2024. He facilitated gross sales of greater than 1,000 kilograms every of cocaine and methamphetamine, alongside tons of of kilograms of different managed substances, together with fentanyl-laced capsules linked to a minimum of one overdose demise.
“At the moment’s sentence places traffickers on discover: you can not cover within the shadows of the Web,” U.S. Lawyer Jay Clayton stated. “The web, ‘decentralization,’ ‘blockchain’ — any know-how — just isn’t a license to function a narcotics distribution enterprise.”
Proprietary Crypto Fee System Enabled Nameless Drug Gross sales on Incognito Market
On the heart of Incognito Market’s operations was a custodial crypto pockets system referred to as “Incognito Financial institution,” the place customers deposited BTC or Monero into on-site accounts, in accordance with the DOJ. Transactions had been processed internally between purchaser and vendor accounts, and the platform collected a 5% fee on each sale. Based on court docket ruling particulars, Lin pocketed over $6 million in income from payment compensations.
In March 2024, Lin shut down {the marketplace} in an exit rip-off, stealing a minimum of $1 million held in person deposits and threatening to publish transaction histories until distributors paid extortion charges starting from $100 to $20,000. The scheme revealed that {the marketplace}’s promised encryption and message deletion options had by no means functioned — person information had been retained all through the platform’s whole operation.
Based on court docket filings, investigators traced Bitcoin from Incognito’s administrator pockets to Lin’s private pockets, the place it was transformed to Monero and deposited right into a centralized trade account registered in his title, full along with his Taiwanese driver’s license and private particulars.
Lin’s Operational Safety Failures Led to His Arrest at JFK
Regardless of operating a classy darknet platform, Lin made essential errors that uncovered his id. He registered domains to advertise Incognito Market utilizing his actual title, telephone quantity, and bodily tackle.
One area buy was partially paid utilizing 0.00501 BTC from a crypto trade account containing his id paperwork, straight linking Lin to the Incognito administrator pockets. He additionally maintained a GitHub account beneath his personal title and saved {the marketplace}’s operational diagram to his private Gmail.
He was arrested at John F. Kennedy Worldwide Airport on Might 18, 2024, whereas transiting to Singapore. The investigation concerned the FBI, Homeland Safety Investigations, the DEA, the FDA Workplace of Legal Investigations, the NYPD, and U.S. Customs and Border Safety.
DEA Particular Agent in Cost Frank A. Tarentino III stated Lin’s actions of prioritizing income over public well being had been “reckless and harmful, however unconscionable.”
Sentencing Arrives Amid Shifting DOJ Crypto Enforcement Priorities
Lin’s 30-year sentence stands as one of many harshest penalties for darknet market operations. It’s second solely to the life sentence initially given to Silk Street founder Ross Ulbricht — who was pardoned by President Trump in January 2025.
In April 2025, Deputy Lawyer Basic Todd Blanche issued a memo disbanding the Nationwide Cryptocurrency Enforcement Group and directing prosecutors to cease pursuing circumstances towards exchanges, mixers, and wallets for the acts of their finish customers.
US senators problem @TheJusticeDept Deputy AG Todd Blanche over dismantling the crypto crime unit whereas holding $158K–$470K in $BTC and $ETH.
#DOJ #CryptoCrime https://t.co/iTSjooq7Cq— Cryptonews.com (@cryptonews) January 29, 2026
Nonetheless, the memo explicitly maintained deal with circumstances involving terrorism and narcotics trafficking — classes that squarely captured Lin’s conduct.
In the meantime, the DOJ has continued darknet enforcement on different fronts, finalizing a $400 million forfeiture tied to the Helix cryptocurrency mixer in January 2026.
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