By Tom Wilson

LONDON, Jan 6 (Reuters) - Crime involving cryptocurrencies hit an all-time high of $14 billion last year, darknet websites blockchain researcher Chainalysis said on Thursday, alphabay darkweb url a record that comes as regulators call for more powers over the fast-growing sector.

Australians are officially the world's biggest binge drinkers, but Britain and the US don't lag far behind - featuring in the top five of the latest Global Drug Survey.

Denmark and Finland ranked at second and third in the survey of more than 32,000 people from 22 countries which collected data from December 2020 to March 2021.

The data also shows that the Irish felt the most remorse after drinking.   

German police have taken down one of the world's largest child porn sites with over 400,000 members and arrested four people accused of running it.The site, known as BOYSTOWN and accessible only via the so-called Darkweb, had existed since July 2019 and alphabay onion was used for the worldwide exchange of child porn.

By Tom Wilson LONDON, Feb 12 (Reuters) - The kingpin or kingpins of the world's biggest illicit credit card marketplace have retired after making an estimated fortune of over $1 billion in cryptocurrency, according to research by blockchain analysis firm Elliptic shared with Reuters. The "Joker's Stash" marketplace, where stolen credit cards and identity data traded hands for bitcoin and other digital coins, ceased operations this month, Elliptic said on Friday, in what it called a rare example of such a site bowing out on its own terms.