Bitcoin used in illegal drug deals in Sweden

Bitcoin had become a common medium of exchange in illegal drug deals in Sweden, local media reported Sunday.[Special coverage]

Bitcoin was used by drug dealers in at least six transactions in Sweden in 2013, and in several cases the offenders completed the deals on internet, said the Swedish Daily News(DN).

Four people were convicted of drug smuggling in the northern city Haparanda of Sweden in December, when a large amount of Bitcoin was found in the computer of the main suspect, involving around a hundred transactions.

The suspect has handled "half a million Swedish kronor (about 77,000 U.S. dollars)." Lindha Stromberg, a local prosecutor, was quoted as saying by DN, while adding that the increase in the value of Bitcoin was difficult to say as its price had risen sharply.

It was difficult for the police to obtain the password to the virtual wallet for Bitcoin storage, and users' identities were also hard to trace on websites which served as platform for those illegal trades such as deals of drug, weapon and other services.

Furthermore, Bitcoin used cryptography to control the transactions between the users and therefore the process was independent from banks or financial institutions.

However, Mats Henricson, president of Bitcoin Association, did not consider Bitcoin as a competitive alternative against cash or drug deals.

"Of course you can pay anonymously, but you still have to receive post packages...They do not just disappear because you pay in Bitcoin," said Henricson.

Bitcoin is an electronic cash system first described by pseudonymous developer Satoshi Nakamoto in 2008.