Incognito Market founder sentenced to 30 years for crypto-based dark web drug market

Rui-Siang Lin, the 24-year-old founder of the Incognito Market dark web marketplace, was sentenced by a federal judge to 30 years in prison. Lin, who operated under the pseudonym "Pharaoh," pleaded guilty to charges including conspiring to distribute narcotics and money laundering. The platform, which operated from October 2020 until its shutdown in March 2024, facilitated over $105 million in illicit narcotics sales, involving more than one ton of drugs globally. Incognito Market utilized cryptocurrency payments and an internal system called "Incognito Bank" to ensure user anonymity. The judge called Lin a "drug kingpin," noting the operation was linked to at least one death and harm affecting over 470,000 users. In addition to the prison term, Lin was ordered to forfeit over $105 million and will serve five years of supervised release.

(Source：The Block)