Bitcoin Forum

Well as we all know that whenever we transact it always go through blockchain first. So is it possible that blockchain can detect illegal trasanction such as buying drugs, guns, hitman etc., especially on deepweb. And where does bitcoin go when blockchain detects a illegal transaction?

I think there's no reason for the blockchain to detect some illegal use of bitcoins or in any form of transactions along the deepweb..because first of all bitcoins are anonymous ,also the transactions on deepweb will be more anonymous..before entering on that site many people hide their ip 10x or more to not be trace in any transactions they made.

There is no way to detect a illegal transaction.I doubt even in future this feature will ever be implemented.How can you decide if a transaction is illegal ? Volume of the trade ? Bitcoin address associated with it ? All the blockchain does is process the transactions by keeping them public regardless of who or what is being the address is used for.


That's incorrect. Transactions will be on the blockchain regardless of how secure your Tor network is. Doesn't matter if you're on deepweb,a public ip or 10 tunnels down the secure server,your transactions will be anonymous and public only.

Yeah sometimes blockchain check on some mysterious transaction such as what you have said. And blockchain doesn't just process transactions .

Are you talking about blockchain.info or THE Bitcoin blockchain?

If you are talking about the Bitcoin blockchain then no it does not check any mysterious transactions.

If you are talking about blockchain.info then no this..
Is not true..

The Blockchain doesn't check on any transactions because it's like a big ledger where all the old and future transactions are being recorded. The Blockchain is not an institution like the FBI  ;D If you are talking about the Blockchain wallet I don't think they can either detect which transaction is dirty and which is not, maybe if they have a database of Bitcoin wallets associated with criminal activities they would be able to. But if someone is sure that some wallet is dirty they could send a small sum to it and put a public memo notifying everyone that it's a wallet of criminals.

The blockchain is a record of the transfer of coins between wallets. It does not contain information about who sent or received coins, or the reason they were sent. Other information by third parties, ip addresses etc., could be used to track down a user depending on how they did the transaction.  

No i don't think they moniter all your transaction so there is also no TOS or something in blockchain.info about those illegal transactions. May be coinbase have strict policy as they have banned few wallets already. But bitcoin is mean to be decentralized so anybody can pass through this companies if they use desktop wallet or paper wallet for transaction.

Yeah but Coinbase is monitoring known hot wallets of gambling sites. The Blockchain can't affect the transactions because it's not a wallet by the way but a record book containing the data of all the transactions that ever happened. So only wallets have the power to temper with users' funds and I assume if an address is flagged for illicit deals then it could be possible to seize the funds of the offender using an online wallet if the police files a subpoena or something and asks the online wallet operator for cooperation. However if the funds are transferred to desktop or mobile wallets there is nothing that could stop the transactions I fear.

No, Bitcoin doesn't work that way. Neither does Blockchain can detect illegal transaction because it simply not possible to disclose illegal transactions. Unless, you know the person that is using that particular Bitcoin address.

some of these replies actually hurt my eyes... In order to avoid confusion:

- the blockchain = the technology behind bitcoin, recording all transactions in a public ledger
- blochchain.info = a website that offers services based on the blockchain
While the first is merely a piece of technology, the second is a company. The company can possibly do some data mining if they really wanted to.


- when you buy bitcoins, usually your name, address, paypal account, credit card, id,... or other forms of identifying information are needed. If somebody (FBI, interpol,...) wanted, they could easily find out who bought coins and on which address they were stored.
- when you trade your bitcoins for fiat or for physical services, the same information is needed, and the feds can link your identity to your wallet address.
- if somebody is really dedicated, he can follow the trail of the coins, unless you know how to conceil the coin movements (by using mixing services, coinjoin, exchanges,....)
This means that it doesn't matter if you use a VPN, tor or the computer in your public library, if you don't know what you're doing, somebody can follow the full trail of the bitcoins, from the moment they were mined, to the moment you bought them, to the exact moment where you traded them for dope, to the moment the dopedealer sold them again for fiat.


Luckily, if you're not doing horribly illegal stuff, i'm pretty sure law enforcement has better things to do than to find out who gambled $100 on dice or if you bought $50 worth of weed... I could be mistaking tough ;)

I dont think so. blockchain cannot detect illegal trasanction such as buying drugs, guns, hitman etc etc .
Thats the beauty of Bitcoins as they are not trace able.

Don't wish to go with illegal things with bitcoins. Please try to promote bitcoins as much you can. But do with positive things bro.
Many scroller use to do. Please community members don't do that bro.

So there was a transaction of .25 BTC yesterday at 11PM between wallet X and wallet Y. So dare you suggest it was illegal? It was aunt Arnie sending some money to little Tommy so he could buy books to perform better at school. So many bad mouth people... There's never been anything illegal sold or bought with BTC. Don't believe what they say on TV.

+1.
 Studies show that 78% of bitcoins are spent on books.

i havnt got a clue what you are even asking, do you understand bitcoin???

Yes you can buy illegal things with bitcoin or any other currency. Until there is legal there will be illegal also. There is different laws in different countries so it's not like that all illegal things are bad. I think its answer on your question in headline.
I don't think you know how illegal transactions work. How can anyone know is transaction is for something illegal or not.
Try to buy something illegal and you will see how it works.

while paying for anything no one mention that for what purpose they are paying it there at blochchain. So how will blockchain come to know that the specific person has done the transaction for that particular purpose?

I like your idea, we can write down whatever illegal things cash used to buy on the cash. So that next person will know.

Agreed.  I'd be very interested to know how this would be possible.  But I'm sure the FBI and all the alphabet agencies will find a way--they're always watching.

Im not a web surfer on that deep web ,but i know some because of my groups ., i think also that FBI is keep on tracing any illegal transaction on that web, but many anonymous hackers are there watching but no power to report it , so i thinks theres so many people who also hires a hackers to do job or to have a transactions on that site .. We all know that one wrong move FBI can trace us.

I think blockchain will not care about it. bitcoin made for freedom. then you're free to do anything with bitcoin., including buying drugs or illegal

Bitcoin is money too, so it's nothing special that it's wasting on different illegal things. Buying drugs or guns you can with bitcoin or with dollar it will not change nothing.

Yeah it's true that bitcoin is a money too but whenever you think of it that people uses bitcoin's anonymity to buy illegal things is a crime that can be punishable by the law. It can be a threat to bitcoin if this happens often.

and yet bitcoin is the best momey for this kind of transaction as bitcoin offers anonimity and securit...

You can buy both legal and illegal things with this bitcoins. there is no stopping to it. So it on your own will whether you use bitcoins for good or bad purposes. Bitcoin will support u in both.  :)

It is technically impossible to detect illegal transactions for blockchain if you are sending your payment to another bitcoin address without any note or without using the API.

But if you are making API payment, then it can be proven that you have purchased some illegal things looking at the website. But in deepweb, your ass is hidden, so you can transact freely. 

Blockchain can't detect the illegal transaction or not and it's same with every transaction through a bank or bitcoin. we will know it is illegal transaction when there are reports of another party or the authorities in the country.

One of bitcoin advantage is it's anonymity, but it doesn't mean your transaction is untraceable.
When you did transaction, your transaction have the blockchain, and that blockchain can be traced.

For the same token, can we trace all bills, since all cask has a unique series number.

There is no way the blockchain detects an illegal transaction, all it is is a public ledger that anyone can go onto and read whatever they want. The blockchain doesn't look at each transaction, it merely exists. It does not care what happens.

The Blockchain is just a public ledger of all transactions and how coins are linked from one person to the next. If you used your Bitcoin address on say Overstock.com and you bought something there, they might have your IP address stored on their system. < I am just using Overstock as a example, and I am not saying they are logging IP's > and then you use that same IP address to buy something illegal on another site where they have IP addresses stored, then the authorities can link these two transactions together on the Blockchain and then use this evidence to track you.

To keep your financial history more private, use Bitcoin addresses only once and then no history of previous transactions will be traceable to you from compromised services. Some of these services will not give this information without a subpoena and the proper documentation. ^hmmmm^

Some services collect this information for the authorities, and you will never know which one is legit and which one is a honey trap. ^smile^

The role of blockchain is not to trace illegal transactions. I'm not even sure that they have way to do that. Also, FBI and other agencies can't monitor all illegal transactions. They probably have some persons under surveillance who are dealing with such transactions but they can't have all transactions under surveillance. Otherwise all people who are buying drugs or weapons would have been arrested and that is not possible. Besides, one of the mainn features of Bitocin are anonymous transactions that couldn't be traced.

The IP concern can be easily avoided by using a VPN service right? What if some honest guy who has bought Bitcoins on an exchange sent some to his friend who is a bad guy. So the good guy has exposed his ID to the authorities but the bad guy got clean coins in his wallet. How can you find out the identity of the bad guy if he continues to deal with digital cash and doesn't want to withdraw into the physical world?

I agree with you also the fact is blockchain is made to receive/send and store bitcoin and blockchain not tracking illegal nor can track illegal activities because bitcoin is anonymous. If blockchain can detect well many scammers will go to jail because all of them using blockchain. And the reason why scammers use blockchain is because they are not traceable and their identity is safe.

Because the "good" guy can be identified... When buying coins on an exchange: you need to verify your ID, on other websites you need a verified paypal or credit card.
Only localbitcoins and bitcoin ATM's CAN be reasonably anonymous, altough the "good" guy might become "victim" of a sting operation.

When the "good" guy sends coins to his "bad" friend, the transaction is logged on the blockchain. When the "bad" guy buys something illegal (for example: drugs), the transaction is logged on the blockchain.

If the FBI suspects the dealers wallet to be a wallet used by a criminal, they can trace the coins back to the "bad" guy, and from the "bad" guy's wallet, they can trace them back to the "good" guy... But the "good" guy can be identified when he bought the coins.

So, if the "good" guy buys coins on a regular basis, and always sends them to the "bad" guy who always buys illegal stuff, it might happen that the cops knock on the "good" guys door and interrogate him untill he reveals the identity of the "bad" guy.

Bitcoin is pseudo-anonymous. It can be more or less completely anonymous, but only if you know what you're doing... If you're just buying coins and using them, you CAN be traced by somebody who has a lot of time and money (and has access to court orders)

i was never heard that blockchain can detect illegal transactions also i think it could not be blockchain do that because very difficult to detect illegal transactions to bitcoin users and might be because bitcoin is anonymous so every transactions cannot be detect but i think only government can do that not blockchain

What you are saying here is incorrect or an error in translation. The blockchain doesn't 'check on' mysterious transactions, it just lists all transactions, mysterious or otherwise, it's a public ledger.
People can use it to check for suspicious transactions or whatever but the blockain itself does nothing of this sort.

Ofcourse not.
How a website that keeps track of the wallets and the funds being transacted between each other can detect an illegal transaction?
Blockchain only can show you that what amount and from what wallet it was transacted from, but it cannot give you or keep any other information about that.
Because bitcoin is anonymous, it cannot be tracked i guess.

i heard that it is possible to detect but it is very difficult, if you keep your blockchain clean record (never publish or never used it) and you used the service to mix your coin, then its almost impossible to detect it

Nope, blockchain can't detect about illegal transaction. Transaction on deepweb must be very2 careful, and i don't think it can be detected by blockchain or anyone, beside the seller and buyer.

There are companies that do aim at detecting and monitoring illicit transactions in bitcoin for use by law enforcement, governments and merchants. For examples

https://www.elliptic.co/
http://www.coinalytics.co/
http://sabr.io/

An they can do this because bitcoin is not anonymous, but only pseduo-anonymous.

Blockchain cant really detect any transaction that is being used illegally thats why people who do this loves bitcoin and they remain anonymous with it.

There are many illegal things that you can buy with Bitcoin and that is logic because Bitcoin is a nice payment method to buy some illegal stuff with it.
You can buy many things with Bitcoin like weapons and bullets and that is indeed quite bad but the world is also getting crazier.

Buying guns, bestiality porn, drugs and other banned substances using physical cash is the most anonymous option. No matter how much you mix your coins, you are likely to leave a trail in the blockchain, leading back to your main wallet. However, if you use hard cash, then no matter how much the cops try, they can't trace you.

some people seems to don't understand that and try to show people how bad bitcoin could be because of that, i mean that this can be used to all those illegal things.



not anonymous but pseduo-anonymous

Illegal in USA! USA! USA!! FUCK YA AMERICA!! Can be legal else where..

AMREICA FUCK YAAAAAA.. .........................................................

Thank you very much for the the simple and yet very informative explanation. I don't think you are mistaken, but if somebody does it would be interesting to see what is he/she thinking.

For those interested in knowing how you will eventually be caught using bitcoins illegally and how Ross Ulbrich and many users of Silk Road were caught:


http://cseweb.ucsd.edu/~smeiklejohn/files/imc13.pdf

http://www.forbes.com/sites/andygreenberg/2013/09/05/follow-the-bitcoins-how-we-got-busted-buying-drugs-on-silk-roads-black-market/#3bc3aa1289a8

Sorry for the rant... I was just reading this thread yesterday evening, and i saw loads of people claiming that bitcoin was anonymous, and i saw some people that were actually getting confused between the blockchain and blockchain.info, so i made a post trying to clear things up.

In retrospect: it needs to be said that a normal user might not be able to track you down, since you'll probably need some warrants in order to get personal info from either the place where you bought coins, or the place where you traded them back for fiat... Also, it needs to be said that there are ways to break the connection between you personally and the coins you have in your wallet (coin mixers, exchanges, coinjoin, freshly mined blocks,...)

For what you're worrying over it..?? . Each transaction regardless of the mafia not certainly do transactions with the use of different ways, so it's become a regular thing for us and the most important thing is that we don't do that enough already. I think Blockchain could do tracking every transaction is done but it also requires a fairly complicated system. Illegal transactions that existed before there were such things so Bitcoin will always be until doomsday. In this world there are two things that are never lost that is good and evil. Use the Bitcoin for you and leave the things that can harm you.

Well indeed we can detect every transaction on the blockchain, but we don't know what was each transactions for. It can be for buying some 'good' things, or even a 'bad' things. We don't know

I agree with what you are saying. I would add though that it is at the third party level that your identity is tied to your coins. The overwhelming majority of my coins are not known to anyone but me. P.S. I do not use them for illegal activity, I am just exercising my right to privacy. 

as long you not put any notes in your transaction,i think its impossible for blockchain to trace your transaction dcision,they obly can race from and to where your address come.

I think blockchain will be difficult to detect the illegal transactions with bitcoin in their site. Cause the transaction don't need to write for what someone do the transaction.

Wow I didn't even know that Bitcoin reconnaissance is even a thing until now. Elliptic are saying on their website that they can trace Bitcoin addresses of dark web entities wow can they really do that? I thought deals on the dark web are very hard to track down if not impossible. Maybe they have developed an algorithm to datamine suspicious transactions or something because if they are doing this manually it sounds crazy.

excatly,even for bitcoin address which used for gamble or address from gambling site,blockchain not care and not trace is as bad or illegal thing,so i think blockchain so far not take responsibility for any illegal thing.

Of course. Why they should take responsibility.
It's our own responsibility what we buy.

As much as I know, bitcoins were once highly used in the deepweb/dark market before, and I think it's a little obvious that bitcoins are still being used in purchasing illegal stuff right now as you are reading this post. As most of the users above, blockchain does not track the nature of the business done. Blockchain only records as to who are the senders and receivers of the transaction.

I think Blockchain is unable to detect that what thing is bought with the transaction occur, and I think it also does not detect that which person is that who send or receive that bitcoin transferred.

Thats exactly what they do, datamine blockchain + publicly available information + information from exchanges, law enforecements etc. Once they connect a single address of a user  with his/her real identity, they just follow the blockchain trial. Everything is in blokchain, as its public ledger.

block chain don't know which transaction being done for an illegal purchase or deal. all transaction are same.. block chain can't detect transactions. but if we know an address of a scam person and report about it in blockchain, then may be blockchain can cancel transaction to this address.

Blockchain itself does not know what is payed with the transaction and that also would be stupid if you asked me.
Overall its possible because there is nothing different than with a normal payment compared with illegal things..

There are many illegal things that you can buy with Bitcoin and that would be nice but also dangerous, but you cant stop it and also not control it.
And if there will be more users that is going to use Bitcoin they will also get to know about the illegal things.

Why should Bitcoin "Start to check blockchain" for any activity?
Btc is just a currency.

Illegal activities should be checked by governments.

Exactly bitcoin as a transaction medium helps in transferring money to any one at any corner of the world. So it doesn't matter with the product. It depends on buyer and seller whether the product is is a legal or illegal thing.