Bitcoin Forum

As I'm sure you all know, Bitcoin is a currency that allows users to make money or send money anonymously, with little to no concern of the government taxing your hard earnings, and not being able to know what a trade is revolved around. Bitcoin as of now has a reputation of being a dangerous asset to the world of illegal transaction (theft, scams, and overall illegal activity). There has been proof that bitcoins and other currencies similar such as altcoin and so on have been continuously tied to illegal activity.

My concern as an interested participant in the act to make this currency a well occupied currency is being threatened and truly compromised by people who still to this day sell and purchase illegal substances, and services. I constantly read people's trust commentary pages on how some users are "pedophiles" or sell stolen property. My only wish is that we get our acts together as adults, and prove to society that we are not criminals. We are just people that enjoy our privacy, enjoy being what we want, and enjoy freedom. Thank you.


Your thoughts?

Bitcoin is just money, and money always attracts the greedy and a criminal element. There is nothing special or different with bitcoin. You must pay taxes on bitcoin earnings or face the same penalties as any tax cheat.
That's how I see it as an American. However if I lived in a shitty dictatorship I would see bitcoin as a way to get justice by evading the government. If i lived in a totalitarian country I would see bitcoin as a financial liberator. Bitcoin is not a tool to judge social benefit or make a moral statement. It is just money.

That's a great commentary, but I think you're missing the point of my post.

Meh, we enjoy freedom and privacy, but the 3 billion-dollar question is, do the governments, banks, and the media respect it? No, no they don't. As long as they can get something into their pockets, they don't care what reputation they might damage just to get their goals. And do they think that bitcoin is the only money that is tainted with illegal activities? They're just blinded because fiat has a lot to offer to them, and has a lot of potential to make them rich.

My thoughts? Illegal activities are diverted towards bitcoin and is stressed upon while the wrong-doings in fiat is just ignored by the masses because of the governments, banks, and the media.

There's little we can do until we find a perfect outlet to make the currency look 100% innocent.

I am indifferent about this opinion. Have no reaction in me because I know bitcoin as needed to know and understand that this epithet is untrue. Then I try to understand to whom have such opinion that him has wrong. If the discussion make sense (so if the other have interests to known and understand the true) I continue to discuss until the moment on which I understand that is in vain to go further. It is not my problem if I arrive results with my explanations. I have my bitcoins. The other part not. If will understand the right the other part will try to have those and I have arrive my aim. If not the other will not have bitcoin and this is his problem.

As long as it's related with money and has value, it will never be fully clean because it can always be a medium for illegal activities and the likes.

Bad reputation is slowing down the adoption of Bitcoin by the layman who do not understand that bitcoin is of no difference from fiat.

i dont care. educate the people.

We need more educators and advocates for this cause. The media could easily brainwash people no matter how hard we instill to their minds that bitcoin is the way to go.

Every person who believe this, should react on any fud being spread about Bitcoin. They should be more active than the shills doing this and they should provide counter arguments for

all of these false accusations and bullshit statements. This is the only way to stop this reputation from growing into a unmanageable problem.

Yes, there are scams, but there are scams in any other payment method too.. just get over it, and use it legally and show other how to use it legally too.  ;) 

I don't care about the reputation of my money. The only question is "Can I use it for something useful or not?" (Please note that I consider "gambling" on altcoin exchanges as something useful :).) BTW talking about reputation in the case of money seems to me a bit of stupid thing :).

My thoughts are everything is going to plan... when the internet first came out it was a dangerous place full of porn and good for nothing.  The mainstream are always slow to catch on and bitcoins start is looking just like the internet.

Actually, the internet was at first created for doctors to transfer and share information.

Bitcoin is generally attracted by criminals due to its awesome features like anonymous,No fees,No taxes,No government issues,No chargebacks :P but that doesn't mean everyone using bitcoin is criminal..
If some people think that way that people using bitcoins are greedy,thiefs etc then that is there fault they do not know much about bitcoins..
I would say everything in the world,including bitcoin has it's pros and cons..If bitcoin has negative side then it do has positive side also and it depends on you which side you stand :)

I'm definitely hoping that with time, the reputation will get better and better.

We need more stuff like this to start happening:
http://www.efinancialnews.com/story/2015-08-20/nasdaq-our-plans-for-the-blockchain-fredrik-voss

The anonymity is the advantage as well as disadvantage of bitcoins. Where we are free from being taxed using bitcoins, it comes with a fear as well. Whenever I transfer BTC to my account, I need to keep checking if there are any issues with the transaction or my account as many exchange websites are shutting down due to the use of bitcoins. Many have said that users need a license to trade in bitcoins and I don't want to be in any kind of trouble as I don't use my bitcoins to gamble or to fund any illegal activity.

Sorry I'll try again then. I really don't care about what others think of bitcoin.  :D
For me it is the fastest, cheapest, and most secure way to move money. That is more than enough to make it the only money I use online. I will use it as long as I can and expect that will be the rest of my life.

Aren't you concerned that the utility you value so much will be lost if only a few people are left using it?

Yes. lol. There are no guarantees of course, but I think we are past the infancy stage and it will take a lot to kill bitcoin now. To date I have never even seen a viable way to kill it. So I'm just not worried about price or the future at the moment. I feel like the war is over, and brother, we won!

I don't have any feeling, honestly. That's like you have asked me how do I feel about dollars having negative reputation since the people fight wars around the world to gain as many dollars as possible.

Bitcoin is a new technology, and every new thing gets bashed in the beginning. Well Bitcoin opponents have taken a decision to bash Bitcoin and the weapons that they are using the most is its initial negative reputation. This is really all they got! We should just stop paying attention to the FUDsters.

Before bitcoin created, dark market/illegal things can buy with fiat and it's still ongoing. it's a tools, you can use it for good or bad things. recently a lot positive feedback for bitcoin, more adopter coming. people already wake up(although is not all and still not half human being in this world).

Everything you can buy with a money, including a husband.

Only sheeple got negative opinion about Bitcoin.

There is just as much good news as bad. Anyone that bothers to do any research knows that bitcoin is not anonymous. Every transaction is recorded on the blockchain for the world to see. You can see contents of wallets also.

I remember when the internet was 1st becoming popular, people were saying almost the exact same things we hear about bitcoin now. Word for word sometimes. LOL

@codish, You may want to google an organization named Darpa for the origin of the internet. ;)

Bitcoin is financial liberator everywhere, USA included. That's the most important property of it.

Everything can be used for good as well as bad. Bitcoin is not anonymous (at least not completely), so gradually the bad stuff should disappear.

It wouldn't matter if that was the actual truth. If it doesn't look like the truth, no one believes it. You could be a wonderful person, and no one would know or care unless you looked that way.

Was that last line in reference to this post I made?
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1197434.0

I agree with you that Bitcoin appears pretty sturdy at this point. That clearly is a win. However, I'm not interested in simply watching it maintain its current market position or worse, see some competing inferior system designed by the current financial gestapo take the lead because Bitcoin appears tainted by criminal activity.

I think people are afraid of taking responsibility over their own finances. The best way to tell people is that bitcoins are like virtual cash.

Jewish bankers have a terrible reputation but their business is still going strong. Americans have an awful reputation in many African countries, and in some parts or Europe. Muslims, blacks, Russians, millions of people give a bad reputation to millions others, but the sun keep's on rising every morning. I guess I have a bad reputation myself to a few people, but I don't care.

Also, having a bad reputation can be exciting. I love women with a bad reputation.

First of all btc doesnt allows users to make money or send money anonymously
Negative opinion,lack of knowledge about btc,i have much worse opininion about euro and dollar than btc
Money is money that is all.Some people who think thay are lords of that world dont want people money,but btc is now fair away from  to be people money

I feel like any negative connotation surrounding bitcoin is a misconception and will only be temporary.
American investors are afraid of the Marijuana industry because they don't see it being a profitable endeavor, yet it's the biggest cash crop in America while remaining illegal.

Money attracts everyone, but if you scare genuine people away or make it difficult for businesses to be taken seriously while accepting BTC then who remains to use the currency?
As it grows and gains interest globally it will lose it's "negative" reputation and will continue to increase in value.

We don't have to prove we aren't criminals. We just aren't. The mentality of "guilty until proven inocent" doesn't help anything.

Anyway, don't expect to criminals to stop to use Bitcoin or any other cryptocurrency just because their activity supposedly harms the currency.

Aside of this, the only thing we need is just education. In the same way as encrypted and secure comunications for privacy purposes of the average citizen.

those that are against bitcoin because it can be used like cash for criminal things, only because , again, it has some advantage over fiat, on this type of stuff, are the one to blame

the real criminals are the one who are preventing bitcoin to grow, and i'm sure when bitcoin will skyrocket its reputation will follow too

How do I feel?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U5TqIdff_DQ

wouldnt it be great if on the year MTGox went down. media told the world about mtgox. but also stated the amount of police reports that were filed that year of people around the world being pickpocketed on the streets, debit card cloning and where people lost fiat due to bad wall street investments. reveal the number of police reports of people paying fiat to scam artists for timeshares, etc.

I'm angry because of this negative reputation of the bitcoin currency.
I think this is one of the main reason why some of my friends hesitate to join bitcoin.
I hope that very soon this will change when more ''big'' merchants accept bitcoin and we become mainstream.

I feel bad, because I've been trying hard to introduce Bitcoin to the people.
But now, everyone would be hard to interested to use Bitcoin.

I do not feel Bitcoin as something negative  ;) Bitcoin is one of very popular crypto and many happy BTC users around the world is using it  ;)

I understand the sentiment but I don't think it's a great idea to compare Bitcoin to other thefts and bad investments.

I can visualize the ad campaign now: Come join us in Bitcoinland! We're no worse than Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC.

Wait...

But I just opened my first wallet, and I don't feel there's any way of you people seeing my last name.

When bitcoin is used more by good people like us, the reputation will enhance.

its your opinion, but many people think negativaly about bitcoin,
he said if bitcoin is destroyer of national currency ?

people who react negative about bitcoin are people who doesnt know the pros using bitcoin , just my opinion

and probably they dont have bitcoin even 10k satoshi  :P

or they sold it a the wrong time, like the troll on the speculation board and now they are mad as fuck against everything related to it

there will be always hated toward everything, from at least one person on the planet, therefore, better not worry about these individuals

No impact,
While all currencies can be used for negative things, they also can be used for positive ones, an increased awareness of the utility of Bitcoin and usability for the end user is what matters at the end of the day, perceptions can change.

Don't make bad to yourself from something that has nothing to do with you - the opinion of the others for the bitcoin - and that cannot be changed if don't want to be changed even if don't see facts about the being bad of bitcoin or don't want to see that bitcoin is a wonderful and great invention. If they cannot understand that peer to peer from what is invented bitcoin is a revolutionary thing which will change radically the world of technologies connected with this, this is a fact that they or are unable to understand (this is not your fault and you must leave those in their wolrd) or don't want to understand (and in this case is in vain to talk with those).

In every case you have made the maximum for the bitcoin and you must be proud for this and not feeling bad.

Very true, which is why we need to stop illegal activity being performed with our currency and shape up.

I like it!  :D

well, i only focus on what bitcoin means for me. it's well known that a lot people still relate bitcoin to criminality and such. they simply don't know better.

There is a lot of ways to make illegal transactions with the other currencies, and scammers do it already everyday online and offline using Dollar and Euro currencies and so on. I don't see any specific relation about this and the Bitcoin especially. You think or believe that Bitcoin have a "negative" reputation because of this, it's just your own opinion , i don't think it's real fact.

Frankly speaking I dont care what others think of bitcoin and whether it has good or bad reputation.As long as it is beneficial to me in whatever ways,I will continue to use and support it

When new things get brought into the environment you are always going to have a bad reputation.  There is no question about it.  One of the problems is a lot of people think Bitcoin is a get rich quick scheme.  Although this is probably true for some people there is so much more to Bitcoin than getting rich.

bitcoin doesnt really have a negative reputation imo. its just the criminal activitites associated with bitcoin that give it a bad name. but it also shows that bitcoin is anonymous so i guess thats a plus.

US dollar is also used in many criminal activities. Does it have negative reputations?

BTC is used 90% by the "black markets"(which includes HYIPs aka "Forex") . Without them, BTC would not exist or its value would be almost zero.

That's not true at all. 80-90% of the drugs are still sold for dollars or euros. HYIPs are very different than Forex and by the way, the biggest fraud we are seeing right now (at least the smart people are seeing) is happening on Wall Street with the help of FED, they all use dollars.


O did I mention that with the help of the dollar, US government is funding a lot of wars and killing a lot of people?

I dont care what people say and negative reputation about bitcoin as long as I can get and supplement my income through bitcoin.
but it is his reality bitcoin is more widely used for illegal things, and that's why bitcoin be like now.

No one with a clue ever said "Bitcoin is anonymous", it's all about how you use it. It can be as anonymous as it gets, and it will only get more anonymous in the future. Once Darkwallet, Zerocoin etc get released, plus the incoming confidential transactions etc... it will be pretty anonymous for those that want that extra.

It's a good sign...

just look at the internet early days, remember when if you used the internet in the mid 80's you were a criminal, outcast, geek, weirdo.. whatever?
When you are something that is against the current train of thought and you can see potential behind it, you are on the winning team.

I love it. I can't wait till I can add Bitcoin to the list of things where I say, remember when.........

http://images1.houstonpress.com/imager/u/original/6516285/the_future_future_car_technology_fail_oct12.jpghttp://stephenslighthouse.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/129154186400667913.jpg

I use bitcoin only for good causes.

I guess I feel annoyed, frustrated, maybe impatient. I've got a fair amount of money invested in bitcoin & my holdings are currently at a loss USD value wise compared to what I initially invested.

Bitcoin will either succeed massively or die, I don't think there is any middle ground. We should know which way the scales tip within 5 or so years.

With most people i talk dont really think of Bitcoin that way. Biggest reason why they dont trust it, since they believe if our government print money, that means they take profit, so sort of the community. With bitcoin, someone else take profit. I guess electricity companies.

I feel good and bad at the same time,
Bitcoin is just a form of payment methods, and it can be used for anything like fiat.
You can scam, steal or any bad things with fiat money too, so need to state that bitcoin is illegal activity.

Actually it has nothing to do with bitcoin. If bitcoin can be used for ilegal activities so does fiat but why singled out bitcoin as the culprit. All these are because people do not get enough information and thus speculate on their own. The media are also partly to blame for all this but for them as long as the news sells it is good enough.

This reasoning is not always right. You may not be able to understand or see well. In that case you are from the part of the losers. This is an overvaluation of the proper capacities.

But even when your reasoning could be right and you are alone the others will see you as a different (the best of cases) will leave leave you always alone. And being alone you can't do nothing. So the bad reputation cannot not always can be a good sign.

The bad reputation take away from bitcoin all the good things and this is wrong. Bitcoin need for those. Alone cannot be made nothing.

As for reputation, I do not like to be told "that is very risky" (with a glance at me that seems to tell I am involved in criminal activity) when I tell someone about Bitcoin. It is as if people thought that Bitcoin are illegal per se due to what they have heard in the news.

Some success stories of NGOs or people helping other with Bitcoin would be good in order to change that.

I don't care really.
I'm stubborn person and always doing things in my own way .)
When bitcoin becomes mainstream and its value increases significantly, I will laugh to all the skeptics who did not listen me and join when I invited them.

Bitcoin is not anonymous, there are some ways that your addresses may be linked to your identity if people with power really want to. Of course most of the times they don't so you are more or less safe.

To buy BTC you will have to use an exchange or buy from someone, so you'll leave traces behind.

If you earn lots of BTC you'll have to use banks accounts and probably will buy expensive things, so you will leave traces behind

And cash is much more used to buy illegal things, I've never heard of a big BTC stash found with a big druglord

Despite all these "dark" services and products that can be purchased with BTC that culminates in a supposed negative reputation, it shouldn't really overshadow its positive values; think about how much the field of cryptocurrency has evolved throughout its short history and the lives it has changed, its almost like a financial revolution. It's reputation has grown to the point where even a university in the UK has opened up an institute dedicated for crytocurrency too.

When bitcoin is regulated properly, the reputation will improve further even though I think bitcoin has quite good reputation now.

I don't want it to be regulated.

Cool. Links please?

well it's already regulated in some country, and we are not certainly in position to decide, but if regulation will help adoption, why not?

despite the regulation there will be always a way to avoid tax, it's actually impossible to regulate bitcoin at 100% no matter what they do

 i dont care about it,people dont know about bitcoin,mainstream media are delivering only some news to read them,there is more easy to sell bad news.You can ask ordinary peopleabout btcandwhat they think about fiat money,printing,frauds,speculations,about btc thay mostly dont know,,dont know is not bad reputation,fiat money,thay want them

Yes many people still till now even without any idea about what's Bitcoin currency, it's not so famous like the other currencies, till now at least, and then we can't talk about "bad reputation" of Bitcoin

Bitcoin, or rather the community backing it, hold an extremely poor reputation with the rest of the internet and the rest of the world. I actually just posted about this in a similar thread, I'll paste the comment for those interested in the elaboration:

I think a big thing that's stopping people from giving Bitcoin a shot is the public's perception of the community that backs it. The average joe either doesn't know what Bitcoin is, or sees it as internet money used to buy drugs and weapons. The rest of the internet sees Bitcoiners as a cult and generally regarded as the laughing stock of the internet.

I suppose. I just feel it'd be a good idea to have our stories straight and our image shaped into a positive aesthetic before we even push ourselves out there.

Wrong approach if you want that bitcoin go forward. Without regulations and legalization it will be never a future for it. No one country will accept it. Then where is the problem of regulation? If you are a criminal or want to hide something bad I can understand your point of view but if you are a normal people it will be the same. If you want to change bitcoin nowadays almost all the exchanges now (anywhere you are or they are) ask for your identity and proofs about it. If you want bitcoin (and are not a miner) you must buy it. Can be bought in an exchange which will want your identity and the proofs of it. Your anonymity is gone with this action.

So the only thing that can made the people to not accept the regulation its the power of bitcoin to not reveal the identity of the owner; otherwise called anonymity. This specific is already gone. So why not the regulation when ask nothing and give to much to it?

Fine. I'm okay with that I guess.

you take this too seriuse i mean its just money every one can do crime even with fiat and fiat its more used still to crime and terror but the gate of btc for anonimous its big and the crime can occur too much wee need control  a bit but as i say its just money and i still do it for the fun not for crime like many otheres.

The negative reputation of bitcoin is tight to mt.gox and silk road. People  think that bitcoin is mostly used to buy drugs and weapons. But in reality bitcoin is more than a financial tool to obtain drugs.

This is true. But even after Silk Road the use of bitcoin in the Dark Web is enormous. According to CoinDesk "Dark Web Markets Processed More Bitcoin than BitPay in 2014". Following some data from this article:

"... Kyle Soska and Nicolas Christin from Carnegie Mellon University revealed that even by conservative estimates the daily sales volume of six large-scale dark markets reached up to $650,000 in 2014.

The bitcoin merchant processor's self-reported annual total, $158.8m, would produce a daily average of around $435,000."

More can be found here: http://www.coindesk.com/dark-web-markets-processed-more-bitcoin-than-bitpay-in-2014/ (http://www.coindesk.com/dark-web-markets-processed-more-bitcoin-than-bitpay-in-2014/)

So the people have right in thinking that bitcoin is used mainly from the criminals and culprits. The only thing that can fight this is the regulations of bitcoin. In this way, bitcoin will be known by to many other kind of people, will be owned and used by them and will be not more only an illegal currency used by the above firsts people.

As for being more than a financial tool to obtain drugs this is more hard to be understand and explained because even to many of us which have time in learning and using it is hard to find which of its technological qualities can (might) be used or have importance in the real life except being an currency.

i feel sad,and one of negative thing about bitcoin causes legalizing.

Bitcoin is already legal in many developed countries, it's just like the other currencies, a tool to make trades , selling buying online and offline. I don't think that legalizing represent real problem for bitcoin's users

It's normal, you know, each coin has two sides.

Very good point and I share your view. :)

Yes, Bitcoin is used mainly from the criminals, culprits and gambling. This is the pure true. That report is very accurate. Who is using BTC for shopping? You have to think logically.Why you would buy something with BTC when you have credit /debit cards and they are INSTANT and NO fees?

BTC is a niche e-currency that it's used by the black markets mostly. Yes, there are is percentage of people who are using with good faith but these do not count.
 

I don't believe about bad reputation about Bitcoin, it's just thoughts and rumors nor a real facts indeed.
Bitcoin have a lot of enemies worldwide and they don't like to support it so they they spread this wrong things about it

Most news about bitcoin is positive recently.

i dont care about it personally though i think that some people might get less interested in bitcoins because of that though its just my opinion

Links please?

This remembers me when and other cryptocurrencies like perfectmoney webmoney,
Which are/were used for the same things like you mentioned.
These are money so everything you can do with cash you can do with cryptocurrencies so it isn't needed to accuse bitcoin for illegal activities.   

I am agree with you , man. Many other ewallets was used to make illegal transactions , like perfect money in the past, for example. And the money can be used in the leagal or illegal cases as known, so i don't think that's exceptional or giving bad reputation for btc exceptionally

Bitcoin will always have a negative reputation because it is newer.  Not many people like change and it is hard to adapt to.  We will see what happens over time but I don't think Bitcoin will be accepted for another 5 years at least.  Time fixes all.

Because it is new it does not mean that is is bad.
Bitcoin is very innovative and soon will change the way how we deal through internet.
I think it only needs time for people to understand what really is bitcoin and how it works.

People in general are sceptical to new things or learning to use things differently. But if world moves toward higher freedoom over time, then no doubt decentralized public ledgers like Bitcoin will become standard for currency.

I think most negativity about Bitcoin comes from people because they think Bitcoin is not backed by anything and created out of nothing by group of geeks. People want to believe in illusion their national currency is safe and perfect, remember - everybody is learned to use national currency as the only option, and as I told any change is difficult (you wont learn old dogs new tricks easily, if at all :)).

Well about the skepticism it is right that the people are sceptical to new things.
But i think that bitcoin got negative reputation by the hackers that steal bitcoins.
And/or do suspicions activity by dealing through bitcoin.

The perfect scam money is still FIAT. King of all dark transactions. I am surprised that critics are so blind and are spouting total nonsense about Bitcoin features without better knowledge of the topic.
If paper money were created today I am sure that idiots would be calling it too liberal, as you can share and give paper money while being totally anonymous without anyone's knowledge too!

Obviously the same happens with regular curency as well, but people are not objective enought to admit it. Stollen and emptied paypal or bank accounts / credit cards becomes normal, and crime/corruption uses cash or bank transfers as well. I cant understand rational reasons why Bitcoin should be any different, after all - the same people use Bitcoin as well.

I'm about to make another thread on this. Hold on tight and stay tuned.

I saw a documentary about one council that was so corrupt people had to use chests of fiat cash to pay it planning permission bribes, suitcases weren't big enough to hold all the money. Do people stop using dirty fiat money because it's used like that? All money, Bitcoin, fiat, gold, is capable of being dirty if it's used like that.

then, why would I use BTC over debit cards which are electronic money too? :)

I have ZERO fees for any purchases online and offline and instant transactions. Why Bitcoin? I just want to hear one real reason for someone using Bitcoin and not debit cards :)

Pls. skip the "privacy" speach and all the libertarian shit  There is no privacy. BTC is controlled by GOvs through licensed exchangers who are using banks and so on....
Licensed = rules, laws so the opposite of the libertarian shit

OP - More appropriate question is How do you feel about NASDAQ and VISA announcement today validating our tech? Like Nakamoto said: "If you dont believe me or dont get it, sorry I don't have time to try and convince you." Why waste time trying to justify to a bonehead!

I sometimes hear that gold is money illegally
it was a bit upset
I am confused, what to tell him know about bitcoin

It comes with every new tech. Internet went through the same process; it'll pass as it becomes easier to use and people "get it"

Bitcoins are an easy and convenient online currency,but some people have gave it negative reputation by using it for porn and selling drugs and gambling,which is illegal and like disrespecting this currency, this is creating a negative impact on people's mind and people feel scared in using btc for transactions and start considering it as unsafe..!!! This negative impact must be looked upon for making btc a worldwide accepted currency.

Well I don't fell anything yet, Because I don't have bitcoin.

Porn, drugs, gambling and so on, are a always the first markets to use a currency, whether it's Bitcoin or any other fiat currency. This shows how capable Bitcoin is as currency. I don't see it as negative. Look at SilkRoad, it's the first successful merchants with over 1 billion $ worth of transactions. The media is the only negative part, they are simply spreading rubbish about Bitcoin while fiat currency is the all time nr1 when it comes to illigal shit. But you don't here them say fiat this, fiat that. It's always Bitcoin.

There is no such thing as disrespecting a currency because currency itself is dirty in the first place. Fiat and bitcoin have no difference when it comes to each being used as a tool to do illegal things. Also, bitcoin is often being tagged as "dirty" simply because the mainstream media love to fuss about it when in the other hand, shady dealings are made too on fiat: it just goes unnoticed most of the time.

When the government needs money, it will declare gold illegal and confiscate it. It all depends on the will of the government.

Probably doesn't help when the latest episode of 'The Blacklist' makes reference to Bitcoin with a crowdfunded assassination storyline.   :-\

Maybe they'll do a storyline later about how it saved loads of people from a financial meltdown caused by the bankster cabal (far more dangerous than the cabal in that series).   :D

This new fangled idea of writing is a terrible idea.It will corrupt the youth,destroy their memory and give them the illusion of knowledge without the ability to comprehend what they are reciting. :P

 Same old same old.
 Hater's gonna hate.
 
  I try not to listen to them. 8)

 

It's always good news, everything big starts in the edges of legality. Then suddenly, the mainstream media will slowly become less negative with it. Case in point:

https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/800/1*SxhAZTL3ow6TWO1vO11Nzw.jpeg

So don't worry, only destination for Bitcoin is success.

Bitcoin is pretty much money. Money also has many cases of theft and illegal transactions. Having a bitcoin account is just like having a Bitcoin wallet, they both have the chance of getting hacked and money stolen from. I don't really see these events that harmful to Bitcoin as it happens a lot more to fiat. I've had a great experience with Bitcoin and the community is very helpful. Bitcoin's reputation, to me, is quite good.

Ugh, just watched 'Blindspot' and they did it too.  This time a hacker with a tracking app that follows government vehicles.  Two in the same week playing the "darkweb" card feels like an odd coincidence.

I do not think that bitcoin is complete anonymous way to send money because addresses might be tracked , and about the bad reputation I think dollar is used in crimes more than bitcoin so do not blame money but blame evil people

We can't deny that a huge percentage of Bitcoin market share and movement comes from illegal activities. Also there has been major scandals, cyber heists, etc. I think these two are more than enough to make people afraid of using it, but not because of fear of criminals but because it sounds too complicated and technical to use, and it really is, not for us, but working decimals and weird qr codes . Just using a wallet that you have to keep ultrasafe or it will be hacked is enough to scare off most common folks.

when we are talking about bad reputation of Bitcoin, it is not completely correct in my opinion. Bitcoin as other money simple cannot be secure for 100% and never will. Because it is money. And the money is one of the reason why people commit crime. people commit lots of crimes because of fiat money, but we are not saying that  is a reason do not use them or they are less secure.

Thanks for this  info, I am really interesting to read it!

But how transaction spam would be dealed with a giant block size?  There are several instances of blockchain adversment spam in the past 2 years.

Yeah, Yeah... and more than 90 Percent of US banknotes are tainted by cocaine. You can event see specific data here:

Cities and cocaine
Bills turned up positive for cocaine in these percentages in certain cities:
100 percent: Detroit, Michigan; Boston, Massachusetts; Orlando, Florida; Miami, Florida; Los Angeles, California

88 percent: Toronto, Canada
77 percent: Salt Lake City, Utah
75 percent: Brasilia, Brazil
20 percent: Tokyo, Japan; Beijing, China

CNN Report: http://edition.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/08/14/cocaine.traces.money/ (http://edition.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/08/14/cocaine.traces.money/)

Now I'm concerned.  So, what you're saying is that there's somebody out there who can attach my identity to my Bitcoin wallet?  Or, are you saying that just the transactions on the ledger can be traced back to a device that my wallet was on?  Or, the transactions can be traced to an IP that a device my wallet was on was connected to somewhere?  None of that changes the fact that bitcoin has a bad reputation but it does make me feel better knowing that at least somebody knows who the bad guys are out there so bitcoin users wont be blamed in toto.

Bitcoin is never designed to be anonymous. They are at most designed to be pseudonymous. They can't be tied to you unless you publicly reveal it. Sybil attacks can risk your identity but Bitcoin Core connects to node that are /16 IP blocks apart which reduces the risk. SPV clients don't do so.

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The media saying Bitcoin is bad does create a negative mentality about Bitcoin in the general public if they do not do their own research. This could hinder the adoption rate but isn't too bad as many people would gain a vague knowledge of the existence of Bitcoin.

We may ask the miner to charge higher fee for these kind of blockchain advertisement spam. If they pay higher fee, these advertisement will be published.

Do a high probable favor to yourself. Take the money of one of the coffees you take with your friends every day. So take a coffee less in a day. Leave without eating only one of the lunch taken out of home with your family within a month. So eat in you home and not in a restaurant. Then don't go at the cinema with your family to see movies for only one month (there must be four or five times accepting that you see a movie every weekend). If you will do so for sure will have the money to buy 1 bitcoin. Do the above things and with the saved money from the above actions buy 1 bitcoin. Put it in a wallet and forget about it. Remember about it after 20-30 years. If not you (if your are already old) but your children. You (or them) will have with the change of it all the needed money to do all the thing i mentioned above. Not the missed ones but for all those for a full year. At least those.

Imagine what you can do if you will have more than 1 bitcoin.

Actually, I think the reputation is getting slightly better.

I believe it is not so anonymous. I mean, cash is also anonymous, so i dont feel the negative reputation (at least your point-wise) would affect it.

I watched a clip on the BBC last night that claimed that the Bitcoin community is full of scams, drug dealers, thieves, and terrorists.  They reported that the EU had a closed door meeting scheduled for today that was looking into the allegations that Bitcoin was used to fund the recent terrorist attacks in France.

Now, I really hate to admit it...but the report is not too far from the truth.  The Bitcoin community IS running rampant with thieves and scam artists.  It's a fact!  Now...I don't know what the solutions are or what affect the negative reputation will have on Bitcoin's future....but.... I do know that we need to, some how, come together and start policing ourselves before the project fails.  Everything needs some sort of governance, rules of order, procedures that could be enforced by the people....for the people....to protect the integrity of the whole community.  I don't know what those "rules" would entail but I do know that there are some smart people out there who might just be able to come up with something if they put their minds to it.

"How do you feel about the negative reputation of the bitcoin currency?"

Like this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JkhX5W7JoWI

Money – Pink Floyd

Money, get away.
Get a good job with good pay and you're okay.
Money, it's a gas.
Grab that cash with both hands and make a stash.
New car, caviar, four star daydream,
Think I'll buy me a football team.

Money, get back.
I'm all right Jack keep your hands off of my stack.
Money, it's a hit.
Don't give me that do goody good bullshit.
I'm in the high-fidelity first class traveling set
And I think I need a Lear jet.

Money, it's a crime.
Share it fairly but don't take a slice of my pie.
Money, so they say
Is the root of all evil today.
But if you ask for a raise it's no surprise that they're
giving none away.

i like coindesk release this ::)
i hope more good news release

 Bitcoin, Paris and Terrorism: What the Media Got Wrong (http://www.coindesk.com/bitcoin-paris-and-terrorism-what-the-media-got-wrong/)

not really worried about it, its normal for any currency to have a bad reputation it is inevitable.
as for btc being use in illegal transaction thats normal too every currency is being use in
some illegal transaction the only thing btc stands out is because of its anonymity.

bitcoin is digital money that is used freely, it is not surprising if there negative news, I think it's only natural that bitcoin currentcy are always so negative news

I dont really think about it many people have a different views in bitcoin some people think
it is good and some are bad which is normal, every currency has that reputation, even with
the recent issue involving bitcoin with the terrorist it may have a negative effect to bitcoin
but it wont affect the btc currency itself.

The reputation of bitcoin with the general public is in the gutter right now, I don't think it can go any lower. In fact I'm embarrassed to even mention to people its an interest of mine in case they think I'm into it for the wrong reasons :(.

Great thing has a great impact too, it can be good and can also the opposite.
Bitcoin is a big invention that has a big impact on the financial world.

It is not important for me the bad reputation of bitcoin.
All I know is bitcoin helps me a lot in many ways.

I have numerous times tried to explain people to NOT CONNECT BITCOINS WITH CRIME OR ANYTHING ELSE. Bitcoins are like guns which are good if used properly and may prove harmful if used wrongly. And as far as criminal cases through bitcoin are concerned. They don't happen everytime. Those cases are way too old and connecting same thing to all criminal attacks is hell absolutely wrong. We people enjoy our privacy, we love to do things online. This doesn't makes us criminals. Stop connecting bitcoins with all these.. And by the way, bitcoins aren't the only digital currency.. So think before you point the finger otherwise you may get it broken. -_-

Yes it is an big invention and we should not worry about the negative reputation of bitcoins at a moment, time will change in coming years when people become aware about the benefits of bitcoins and once they start using it, it will surely divert their thoughts about bitcoins and sooner or latter bitcoins will be have a great and positive impact on the mindsets of the people.

They do so just to sell the news, but sadly average human being is obviously not smart enough to think on it's own.
There will always be those who will use bitcoin for illicit activity, just like people are using and abusing fiat as well - but noone is talking about banning EUR or USD ..

I don't mind it because people talking negative about bitcoin are not wise enough.
We all know crimes have no real connection with bitcoin.

In response to the recent news about the G7 talking about regulation, I think that in line with the reports of terrorism worldwide, fear-mongering will only add greatly to the negative reputation even more

If the governments regulate the bitcoin and make sure it is not used by terrorist, then it is actually good for the reputation of bitcoin. This means the governments recognize the value of bitcoin. If they allow it to be used in tax payment, it is even better.

People need to understand the fact that Bitcoin just like the liquid cash, attracts both good and bad motives. Anything that is precious and highly valuable in nature attracts a lot of attention. I personally know the benefits of the bitcoin as a digital currency and the challenges it is facing. It is evident that criminals use this type of currency to transact and even sell stolen items so that they leave no evidence. However, when well used, the bitcoin bring total mobility when it comes to online shopping among other things.