Bitcoin Forum

Some people use bitcoin to buy illegal stuff, the majority of people use bitcoin on legal things.

Some people use paper cash to buy illegal stuff, the majority people use paper cash on legal things.

Bitcoin is just a currency. How it is used is a different story.

In this piece, bitcoin being a currency and it being used to buy illegal stuff seem like the same story:
http://www.dw.com/en/bitcoin-paying-with-the-cryptocurrency/av-37536803

Thats the cause.Bitcoins are currency wether it is online or not.So users has the choice from where they would like to spend in their bitcoins.If they want to spend it to illegal things like drugs,prostitution,and other illegal things that can be paid using bitcoins then its their choice its them who will face problem in near future,

you're right, while most of Bitcoin users legally, some people still use Bitcoin to do wrong. we can not affirm all uses of Bitcoin. everything always has its dark side, and Bitcoin too.

It's usually illegal activity that is forced to innovate first. Think about it, criminals are usually participating in a market that has higher friction than any other. They have to constantly innovate to prevent themselves from getting caught! It is unfortunate that so many people only correlate Bitcoin with negative thing because of it though.

? Isnt Bitcoin actively used to buy illegal stuff more than being used in legal stuff? How large are the transactions in the whole darknet marketplaces combined right now and at what rate is it growing yearly? I think it comprises around 70% of the Bitcoin economy, while the users who use it for legal items have their coins tucked in their wallets doing nothing.

No it's way lower than that. You can look at the total Bitcoin network daily volume and then compare it with public data share by large companies like Bitpay and Coinbase where people are using it for payouts as well as purchasing goods and it is definitely the majority now. It definitely is the main currency used on darknet markets but I don't think that use case is anywhere near the majority anymore. Think about the last major exit scam and how much it affected the market, if it was 70% the price would have dropped significantly more.

Governments are crying about cryptocurrency being used as money laundering too, payment method for the black markets.
But they are turning blind eye to fiat exploits. Cash, paper money was used to fuel illegal activities for hundreds of years.
When people are using state issued money to buy drugs or illicit goods, it is perfectly fine, because government will profit anyway.

So? People are using USD and EUR to buy drugs and illegal guns. People are using USD and EUR for crimes, assassinations and so on. Why is Bitcoin so different? It's not, it's just the same thing but the difference is that it's anonymous and of course the governors will NEVER agree with it.

Bitcoin is stepping in the same footsteps as the internet in the early years. Most people were saying the internet will only be used for porn and

criminal uses like money laundering and also to buy drugs. Most of that was true, but lately things have changed a lot, because most applications

on the internet are for legal things.  ;) .... Soon people will realize that Bitcoin can be used for much more than paying for porn and buying

drugs.  ;D

I think, bitcoin is always used to be illegal for some people. well, and I think it is a natural thing. bitcoin, or cryptocurrency very difficult in the transaction has gone well, and make people think to run a business. whether it be a business legal, or illegal. but, mostly in the dark web, bitcoin is used as a means of transaction for illegal items.

the difference is bitcoin is decentralized but fiat is not. you can't dare to call USD an illegal funding currency even if it is the most used currency for illegal activities.
but for bitcoin it is enough to see a small portion of usage to be illegal and the media will go nuts.

This bad reputation build up for bitcoin was due to mainly first use of bitcoin was on silk route and after when it got disclosed to public and some major technical users started to use it as digital source of money to earn and now the popularity has gone so high that it is getting compared to fiat currency,

As my all users above have given clear view that using of bitcoin in legal or illegal way is on the choice of the bitcoin users and that we cannot  stop it just like fiat currency users are also using the fiat currency as legal and illegal way. Only the time will tell the real story of Bitcoin future.

Usage wise, it's almost the same as fiat: you can buy goods legal or illicit, trade them for other currency, pay your bills and whatnot. It's not entirely on how people use it since it can be used for almost the same reasons. There's not much difference apart from how it was minted and regulated and how to store/keep it. As a currency, bitcoin does it's role and quite a lot more compared to its fiat counterpart.

Yeah I think that any money can be used to both legal and illegal,
It is just that the bitcoin is a lot more easier to use in some illegal stuff since the user is being anonymous.

Not even surprise to see a newbie post this, by the way this question has been asked and answered so many times. Op you need to understand all the negativity is being spread around Bitcoin cause it's making big waves that is effecting banks and all. And even Fiat has been used for this, no one blinks a eye. Some idiots use it and suddenly the world looses their mind. No one can force people what to do with their coins and I don't really think news like this really matter. Learn and read Bitcoin news and not just dumb headlines.

Like other said they are just same since you can also use bitcoin to buy and shopping online in limited places.. and you can use bitcoin to pay for services. you can buy illegal or legal.. it is just like a fiat you can uy anything without limitation legal or illegal but bitcoin still not same as illegal..
They are abusing the anonymity of bitcoin to use in illegal activity.

It's a good thing the majority of the users using bitcoin for drugs and illegals things have switched to Monero as of lately although Bitcoin still continues to be the major shareholder in dark net. I think it's not the problem of legal users to be concerned of what criminals do in the underworld(dark net). I pay a lot of digital things in Bitcoin and I am not concerned, I pay domains in namecheap, I pay Steam games, I gamble, I pay subscriptions so yes I pay with cryptocurrency a lot and I am very proud of it.

Coz they can't easily control bitcoin, that's why they're whining.



Bitcoin is pretty much like money so it can be used for both legal and criminal activities. I guess all this impression of it being mostly used for illegal stuff stem from ignorance of how cryptos work. Can't deny though that it's much easier to pay for stuff using bitcoin because of the faster transaction and so the public probably thought that criminals are flocking to cryptos because of that. The hacking incidents in exchanges  also doesn't help the image of bitcoin.

i will say that bitcoin is like a knife which have many function but its depend on us, what we want to do with the bitcoin and what we expected from bitcoin. but i think we don't have to use bitcoin for illegal thing because if we do this, then people in out there will be thinking that bitcoin is only for illegal thing and they will stay away from bitcon. i am agree that bitcoin is currency and for now its available on internet but in future, maybe we can see that bitcoin is available in real life too.

I like the way you said it, everything can be used for good and bad, it is all depend on the user, but because there were a lot of negative publication about bitcoin, so when only a slightly illegal usage of bitcoin being exposed, the people reaction will be blaming bitcoin not the user

Bitcoin payments can be made without personal information tied to the transaction. This offers strong protection against identity theft. this can also can be exploited of bad people to buy illegal goods. as you say

It's anonymous and the general thing if the media is a lack of the topic for making a news. And bitcoin is always becoming a target for a lot of the media. because the fiat currency is already mainstream.

Way lower? Are you sure? I would like to see the hard data on that. You can find the data on the legal stuff but how are you sure the data you saw from the darknet are accurate? Where did you get the data when you made the comparison please post them in the thread and we can continue the discussion.

yes people are using bitcoin to buy illegal stuffs and all but that's because they are knowledgeable enough to go to where they can find those illegal stuffs(dark/deep web) we completely understand how scary or illegal deep web is and a normal internet user should not come at a situation to know this word because that will open the rest of hidden internet access to him which is why they will also start using bitcoin on there instead of real world

I guess it was just a small part!
Think about the last major scams out and how much it affects the market  It's not entirely on how people as Bitcoin user would do something like
It depends on the behavior of people

You can't just control how people should use their money; be it fiat or cryptocurrency and so I will just call for security enhancements on the blockchain in order to phish out suspicious use of Bitcoin or other Altcoins in underground/ illegal dealings. There's no doubt people are using it for pornography, drugs etc. but we can't stop them but we can catch them and bring them to book against the law.

it depends on how we use it. we use money for value exchange for paying value for anything good or bad so its doesn't  make bitcoin responsible for illegal transaction bitcoin is also used of many good causes also like donation and NGO so we cant neglect bitcoin and we cant blame it as responsible for encouraging illegal transaction

Paying with cryptocurrencies is not available much. Now even small scale traders as well online stores and exclusive stores have started accepting bitcoin. Found one website through our trading discussion which sells only apple products. Accepting bitcoin is the one which has made the website popular.

it is just like when you give a knife to someone, he will determine whether he will use the knife to cut fish to eat, or to kill people. and we are talking about bitcoin as a currency that can buy both legal and illegal things, can support you to do legal and illegal things. so it will depend how wise the owner to use it.

I agree people are always quick to run bitcoin down, by saying its used by criminals but that is because they haven't thought about it, like yo said cash is even more used by criminals and i dont here the calls for it to be banned....... oh wait, yeah i do ..... the cash wars have started.

People resort to use bitcoin like a payment method to buy illegal stuff, because it's more secure and you can't track people with these transactions. No one can disallow that people cannot buy illegal thing by cash, but the problem, It's so risky. so they do that with cryptocurrency, Especially bitcoin.
As we see, in the darknet marketplace we found all stuff sold with bitcoin. There is nothing with real money.
By the way, I don't like this idea about bitcoin, We need to use bitcoin for a good thing not for doing a bad  things or buying drugs etc..

many people who have tried to use cryptocurrency to pay for transactions on the internet, or shop online. but, so far I have never felt it. so far, I only use bitcoin to buy credits, or pay internet package. but, one day I will try.

See the thing with cryptocurrencies is that the only time they really get the big news coverage is when they're discussing things being bought with drugs online, like the first time me and my friends ever heard about bitcoin was when Silk Road was taken down and they were talking about this online anonymous cryptocurrency.

They really painted bitcoin in a horrible light and never fully discussed it's use in this online marketplace and how it eliminates the the need of being scared about a chargeback or anything like that. But I guess that's just what the media does these days, highlight what they can in order to get the right amount of views and just ignore the plain ole' facts.

Exactly many people use bitcoin in legal side and also illegal. Because it is a choice of bitcoin's users. If we think that bitcoin is not here than definitely people use fiat currency for some illegal ways. But bitcoin is also competitive to fiat, and also it is easy to use on online and people have a freedom to use it in any where.