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Cryptocurrencies are often celebrated as engines of innovation, tools that democratize finance, enhance transparency, and support new economic opportunities.

The Balkan Peninsula is a natural geographical bridge between Asia, Africa and Europe and therefore has significant geographical, historical, political, military-strategic and economic significance.

Ethereum, one of the most widely used blockchains, which supports over a million transactions per day and often sees over 200,000 newly deployed  smart contracts in a day. Alongside this success, it has also become a target for scams, Ponzi schemes, phishing attempts, and fraudulent ICOs.

In the global fight against illicit trade, sanctions have become the weapon of choice. From asset freezes to export bans, governments increasingly rely on economic pressure to isolate bad actors and enforce international norms. Yet a paradox emerges: the more aggressively sanctions are deployed, the more they may incentivize alternative alliances, shadow economies, and geopolitical polarization.

We have long since moved away from traditional understandings of the world around us. In a revolutionary pace of technological progress, artificial intelligence (AI) is increasingly entering spheres that were until recently reserved for human actions, from medical diagnostics to border security, from technical matters to logical reasoning.

In the 18th and 19th centuries, the coasts of England saw a significant amount of smuggling, which was supported by a large part of the local population.

The fight against illicit trade of cultural property constitutes a battleground for legal innovation, international cooperation, and criminal accountability.

The virtual universe of computer games is a wonder of technology and entertainment, but one that is haunted by a shadow economy of illicit trade hanging over it, imperiling the very fabric of economic and social ordering.

On 20th and 21th of March 2025 in Tirana, on faculty of economy, University of Tirana was held Workshop entitled “Data-science based solutions to illicit trade practices”. The workshop was organized within the framework of Workgroup 4 of GLITTS team. The host of the event was prof. Besa Shahini who is an expert in trade and economic policy.

Illicit trade poses challenges for social stability and prosperity. It produces dire consequences which weaken economic stability, empower criminal enterprises, and target vulnerable groups. The proliferation of counterfeit goods, human trafficking, illegal arms transactions, corruption, and environmental crimes are closely connected and together they create fertile conditions for organised crime groups.