Bitcoin Forum

They benefit from Bitcoin as much as anyone. They brought us modern encryption and TOR among other tools of privacy. Bitcoin brings them a way to smoothly conduct clandestine operations. We could use their help in developing a decentralized exchange system in order to stabilize Bitcoin's adoption.

Turnabout is fair play, I guess.

We use Tor.

They never needed Bitcoin to do clandestine ops. Why would intelligence agencies need Bitcoin? I'm not saying they wouldn't use it, but I don't think they need it.

I don't think it has as much to do with them needing it as an easy way for them to continue to circumvent regulation and oversight. It represents another layer that they can add when moving money around which will make it even harder for their actions to be traced back to them. They aren't just trying to hide things from us (easy) but also the government (medium difficulty) and other intelligence organizations (probably the most difficult). Bitcoin simply represents another tool in their arsenal to do so.

You're onto something: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=6652

But, actually there are many applications for the technology behind bitcoin that would be useful in the context of both intelligence collection and also clandestine operations. Using the mosaic theory of intelligence gathering, one would ideally like to obfuscate as many routine operations as possible to avoid their aggregation being used to discover points of attack or weaknesses in America's intelligence community.

Also one can divine all sorts of opportunities for organizations like the CIA to use Bitcoin to keep funding certain activities outside the conventional banking system. Ironically this gives the intel community an incentive to preserve as much of the anonymity component of Bitcoin as possible. 

I'm sure the peopl doing clandestine operations work with cash and nothing else.
Bitcoin requires a computer and an Internet connection. It's just not convenient when you are in Libya or in Iran.

1) Yes, because they don't have computers or internet in Libya or Iran

2) Yes, because cash is so easy to send from an undercover CIA field op station in Tehran to an asset in Dubai without any possibility of being physically traced end-to-end

</sarc>

Do we really think that absolutely NO assets have insisted that the CIA pay them in bitcoins? Many assets are not stupid, they are professionals who don't want to get grabbed by masked men in the middle of the night, thrown into a concrete form, and dumped off the side of an oil tanker.

Remember, the CIA actually had Gavin come and do a talk on Bitcoin for them... They're not exactly ignoring it. They know they can use it and probably have used it. Sure, they probably buy in and out only when they need it and they aren't holding a huge stash. But they're using it.

IT assets in the information industry would be well-advised to use a virtual currency like BTC, simply because it reduces your own risk - i.e. less exposure, and reduced tracability. You could have millions in BTC without them showing up anywhere. I agree that it is absolutely likely that people in the IT industry are increasingly going to ask for payments to be made through cryptocurrencies for these reasons.

Ever since Gavin talked to the CIA I think they've had more interest in using bitcoin to fund their shady ops than they have in shutting it down. I assume they have agents running all over Iran and other countries that need funding, what better way then clandestine cash for bitcoin transactions.

obviously, transaction speed and costs sure beat the more conventional options, also it adds liquidity to the BTC community - and any whistleblowers in the IT sectors are likely to have heard of BTC before.

In the trailer of Bitcoin the Documentary Gavin says that in his last e-mail to Satoshi he agreed to visit the folks at the CIA:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V-3haBibXWc

This ^^ ...

No doubt they're watching it, that they're following it very closely, but I don't think they're using it yet. Maybe in a few years... Sometimes in the future, they might even say it was a great invention.

They could be mining too, since they have lot of computing power.

This is rediculous. Where do all these operatives cash out - MtGox? It's not like they can just buy a yacht with Bitcoin. All the transfers of funds would funnel down to a narrow point of exchange and be visible to the whole world in the blockchain. Yeah, I'm sure no one would notice a $50 million transfer and cash out to buy armament for a puppet regime.

thats where bartaring comes into play.

hyperthetical:

big investor wanting large amount of radioactive plutonium would agree to be the person A..

now the guy with the plutonium agree's to be person B his army of sleeper cell people in the middle are people C

Person A buys a bunch of bitcoins from different methods available to him 50% of the deal value
person A also passes Fiat to sleeper cell C people.

Person B sees his sleeper cell operatives have been paid and also receives the other half of payment in bitcoin direct to complete the transaction.

Person A now takes delivery of his purchase and Person B has a bunch of bitcoin to randomly pay out to his sleeper cells at later dates as wages etc. which the sleeper cells can sell for fiat local bitcoin style.

in the end all the bitcoin get disbursed in many countries for small amounts. which cant be traced to a bank account or to a large product purchase

You watch too many movies.  ;D

This isn't 1991. You don't need to dial into a BBS to get your FidoNet messages anymore because it grew into something more useful. Bitcoin is adding layers and growing into a more useful internet protocol. The internet itself hasn't changed its basic protocols in decades, and neither will Bitcoin. MtGox will likely be bought by Wal*Mart or some other ubiquitous entity and get renamed WorldCoinz or some such corporate sounding name and have POS systems everywhere they sell cigarettes, gas, and beer.

Look at the post above yours - it still applies.

Yes today it does. Obviously. You wouldn't want to use any form of electronic currency to move $50 million. Only Bitcoin will someday allow you to do it untraceably.

Now that I agree with - someday.

OTOH, when Bitcoin gets to that point, there will be very little need for large amounts of armament.