Cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin are often used in illicit transactions for goods and services but there is one notable exception in Canada: illegal online sales of cannabis.

Between October 2021 and February 2022, David Décary-Hétu of UdeM’s School of Criminology and his colleagues Patricia Saldaña-Taboada and Mélina Girard surveyed Canada’s black market cannabis websites.

In a study, published in the journal Deviant Behavior, they report that 78 per cent of the illegal websites don’t accept cryptocurrencies, opting instead for Interac e-transfers.

Quebec’s legal cannabis retailer, the Société québécoise du cannabis, estimated in its 2024 annual report that the black market accounts for approximately 37…