Buying Gold Bars With Crypto Leads to Arrest

Alleged ‘Dream Market’ Admin Charged For Money Laundering After Buying Gold With Flagged Cryptocurrency

Owe Martin Andresen, a German national, was recently charged with money laundering after leveraging cryptocurrency funds from Dream Market, one of the largest darknet markets.

According to a press release issued on Wednesday by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Northern District of Georgia, Andresen was charged with using cryptocurrency from wallets linked to Dream Market after years of consolidating millions in funds from the market’s activities.

Authorities were able to pinpoint Andresen’s location after he used a Georgia-based cryptocurrency operator, allegedly Bitpay, to settle gold purchases with international merchants and sent the gold bars to his home address.

Andresen is believed to be “Speedstepper,” the main administrator of Dream Market, who moved millions from the defunct market’s wallets to execute these purchases in August 2023. U.S. Attorney Theodore S. Hertzberg stated that Dream Market facilitated the sale of 90 kilograms of heroin, 450 kilograms of cocaine, 25 kilograms of crack cocaine, 45 kilograms of meth, 13 kilograms of oxycodone, and 36 kilograms of fentanyl using anonymous means and cryptocurrency.

In May 2026, Andresen had his home raided, with $1.7 million of gold bars and over $23,000 in cash seized, in addition to identifying $1.2 million in crypto and bank accounts tied to Dream Market. He is now facing six counts of international money laundering and six counts of money laundering concealment, with each charge providing up to 20 years in jail.

Kareem Carter, Special Agent in Charge of the Internal Revenue Service – Criminal Investigation (CI), stressed that “the reintegration of long dormant proceeds demonstrates a hard truth: illicit actors may hide in the shadows, but their financial footprints remain. IRS CI is dedicated to following the money, and our Cyber Crimes Unit special agents are dedicated to exposing those who attempt to exploit technology to evade accountability.”