Crypto Industry News:

A former drug dealer has pleaded guilty to laundering $ 19 million in profits via the Silk Road market.

Prosecutors in the southern New York area announced a settlement with Hugh Brian Haney on Thursday, adding another postscript to the history of the infamous Dark Web market. According to a press release from early 2018, Haney was accused of laundering nearly $ 20 million with Bitcoins.

Silk Road was one of the first drug markets on the Dark Web and a paradise for sellers receiving Bitcoins until its operator, Ross Ulbricht, was arrested in October 2013 and the site was shut down. Ulbricht is currently serving a life sentence on the charge of drug distribution, computer hacking, and conspiracy.

Haney was one of the sellers who used the market. According to prosecutors, Haney was a "high-ranking member" of a team of drug dealers called Pharmville, and reportedly received nearly 4,000 Bitcoins from accounts associated with Silk Road by February 2012. According to the accusation, he traded in fentanyl, oxycontin and other intoxicants.

"Hugh Haney used Silk Road as a means of selling drugs to people around the world. Then he made over $ 19 million in profits thanks to cryptocurrency," US prosecutor Geoffrey S. Berman said in a statement.

He was captured after liquefying the remaining Bitcoins on the stock exchange for $ 19,147.053 in January and February 2018. An unnamed company froze his account and launched an internal investigation that eventually led to a search warrant. Haney was arrested in July 2019.

Initially, Haney claimed that his Bitcoins were from mining operations. Investigators, however, used "Blockchain analysis software" to show that the funds came from Silk Road, as per the July accusation.

According to his settlement, Haney pleaded guilty to one charge of hidden money laundering and of engaging in a financial transaction regarding real estate from crime. He will be convicted in February 2020.

Technical Market Overview:

The BTC/USD pair has broken below the key short-term technical support and the lower boundary of the narrow horizontal trading zone located at the level of $8,836. The low so far was made at the level of $8,601, but the momentum is still negative, so the further spike down might happen soon. The next target for bears is seen at the level of $8,474 and $8,048.

Weekly Pivot Points:

WR3 - $10,032

WR2 - $9,933

WR1 - $9,413

Weekly Pivot - $9,012

WS1 - $8,510

WS2 - $8,085

WS3 - $7,592

Trading Recommendations:

The best strategy in the current market conditions is to trade with the larger timeframe trend, which is still up. All the shorter timeframe moves are still being treated as a counter-trend correction inside of the uptrend. When the wave 2 corrective cycles are completed, the market might will ready for another impulsive wave up of a higher degree and uptrend continuation.