Bitcoin Forum

Here's a nice read on the growth of cryptocurrency vis-a-vis the attacks that seem to hinder it also:

"Since they first hit financial markets, and moreso as their popularity expands, cryptocurrencies—specifically the decentralized digital technology that underlies alt-currencies—have also been a lure for individuals looking for an efficient way to hide their identities, activities and illegal financial transactions. Even as the number and types of tokens proliferate, certain alt-currencies have also become the aiders and abbetors of criminal activity, darkside coins if you will."


Read the rest of the writeup here: https://www.investing.com/analysis/as-cryptocurrencies-proliferate-so-do-certain-criminal-activities-200302190

Well, what do you mean by that? What you need to abandon technical progress, because some criminals can use these inventions for their own purposes? Many digital coins, such as monero, Zcash, Dash have a very high degree of anonymity and can be used and will be used by criminals. This is inevitable and natural. Let the law enforcement bodies deal with this problem. , this is their work. And we will do our own thing.

It really doesn't hinder cryptocurrecy, it's just that some people are afraid to try out decentralized online currencies, or what we call cryptos because they have been used to using centralized mode of payment. What also hinders crypto is the fact that it can only be used when there is an internet, which some people doesn't have access to. What needs to be figured out for now is how cryptocurrencies can be used offline without needing the internet connection.

The crime rate is actually increasing and many scammers are seeing cryptocurrencies as a safe heaven for they criminal activity.  I think regulatory authority in various country needs to come into this market especially the icos market and put they eye on most of this scam projects and keep the market clean for the right investors.

This is article number 4596931789 saying the same thing over and over again.
"Cryptos are shitty,because criminals use them."Camoon crypto haters,can you say something more,instead of repeating this statement over and over?I'm going to destroy my computer next time,if I find some generic low quality article whining  about how bad cryptocurrencies are. ;D

All new technology will be used by criminals, simple. Its happened constantly throughout history

https://atelier.bnpparibas/en/life-work/article/criminals-early-adopters-technology

They are genuinely always early adopters, its probably a good sign that there is utility in a technology! Id be worried if they were not using it!

Greedy and evil people will always use something good to support their crimes, Altcoin is a good thing, many people earn money honestly and honorably by using altcoin, I think altcoin will continue to grow and there will be regulations governing altcoin.

Crime was around the world even when there is no bitcoin or no cryptocurrency. So, we cannot indicate the existence of cryptocurrency as a reason for increasing crime. Cryptocurrency has made crimes to happen with ease, which has decreased tremendously compared to the past as people has started realizing the true need of cryptocurrency.

The site you specified does not work so I cannot read the article. Please verify the error and include the correct link.

The discussion of cryptocurrency that tipped on illegal transactions is a classic reason. Several times ago I read articles relating to illegal transactions made by users of cryptocurrency. But I have a conclusion, cryptocurrency is depended on the people who use it, I'll say yes there may be some users who illegally conduct transactions. But you need to know this transaction can be tracked through address or ledger. Compared to paper currency I believe illegal transactions are bigger than cryptocurrency because there is no one can trace them. So I can assume the illegal transactions are more vulnerable to paper money, not on cryptocurrency.

This article is quite unfair to cryptocurrencies. It states that anonymous coins are used for buying drugs and weapons, but as the transactions are untraceable, how do they know that kind of information? Secondly, all kinds of money are used for illegal activities but somehow people blame only cryptos for that. Thirdly, telegram is also accused of being a great platform for planning terrorist attacks, but we have to give up something and learn how to deal with it without damaging the individual privacy.

What could regulations actually do against fully anonymous cryptocurrencies though? If we assume that those who use it are criminals, they're already above breaking the law. They're also fairly safe from consequences, which is the number one crime deterrent, thanks to the coins' anonymity features. Regulators are already starting to ban exchanges from listing them, but criminals won't route them through exchanges anyway. Low price didn't really deter them from the past either, considering they used Bitcoin when it was fairly young.

I'm not saying there are no ways to stop their use in crime, but I honestly don't even know where to begin. I'm sure this will be a massive headache for the crypto market in the near future.

I am sure the law enforcement is actually finding a way to deal with that and over time, lol; we will get to know what stands for the future of these currencies.

For instance, Japan passed a new policy on exchanges removing any anonymous coin by June and if every other country starts taking this cause, I believe there may not be enough room for reputable exchanges for these coins anymore. Crime has been in existence, and this has made it easy for the perpetrators and obviously we cannot expect government to keep silent about it.

The greed and savage sometimes causes the person to become a bad thing and have a crime. Altcoin is a good thing that many people will help it grow in life and have a new principle. It's time to have laws about it. I just think.

I guess these are the form of articles we will never stop seeing and we are getting used to them gradually. Crime has been existing for years without cryptocurrency and even though the dark coins may be aiding some of these criminals to do what they know how to do best, it does not mean they have not been finding ways to do their things without it even before and all these is more of just an attack.

Nevertheless, I understand that most of these dark coins may stand more chance to be the targets by the government when it comes to regulation, but I guess only time will tell.

This is not about cryptocurrency as a whole. This is about completely anonymous coins like Dash, Monero and the rest. The thing here is that whether we like it or not, this is something we cannot expect those who are so full of shit called scammers and criminals will definitely be polluting the space with this dark coins and we cannot just sit and think everything will just keep moving the way they are without some regulatory interventions. I guess satoshi must have seen this one coming to have made bitcoin pseudo-anonymous.

So altcoins are responsible for crime now? This makes me laugh. If you don't like altcoins you aren't being forced by anyone to buy them. Stay away from suspicious dev teams and their projects and you'll be fine. The river is not responsible for people drowning in it.
As for the anonymity, I think it's great and should be promoted, not fought with regulation. I hope it doesn't keep up and let the market regulate itself.

Well, even without cryptocurrency, crimes are still increasing. Even those high profiled criminal does not use cryptocurrency because there are huge risk to it, and they prefer cash. Let them do their thing, and let us do ours, it's not like it has any effect on cryptocurrency with them around.

I understand the writers view in essence that the numerous icos coming up give room for further crime but that shouldn't stop the progress of an innovation digital currency which is the result of technological achievement. Again, whether crypto or not, crime and fraud will still persist, people just have to be careful.

The Altcoins and their ICO's launches is actually one of the reasons why crime continues to grow at all times, Its a very perfect tool for money laundering , thats why there has been a lot of ICO launches in the last past five years.

Regulations are on it's way and it is our duty to do what is right in order to protect our self from those people who are taking advantages to our weaknesses. Some people are not aware of these crimes in crypto currency but to those people who already encountered such people, they should spread some awareness to the newbies, specially to those who doesn't even care what to do even if they were actually a newbie.

As per the article:


It doesn't mean if you used those coins you have something shady to hide. Maybe you just like to keep more private in hiding your money/invested that's why you prefer to used those "privacy coins". But I'm sure that small percentage of criminals are really using crypto, to masked and hid their wealth. As for regulations? well most countries has already put a tighter grip, KYC is already required so I don't know what more can they ask for us. And I think authorities are really upgrading their system as well, (https://www.ccn.com/busted-britain-confiscates-700000-in-bitcoin-from-hacker/). So it looks like they are gaining some grounds on this criminals or hackers taking advantage of crypto's pseudo-anonymous or privacy feature.

Personally I think regulations are lagging behind given that most countries are only limited to KYC and AML regulations which isn"t enough to scare criminals on doing nefarious acts. Cryptospace is still a safe haven for money launderers because they know that it's easy to toss money here and there without being noticed and alerting anyone. If there'd be more strict yet fair regulations in crypto, the number of these criminals might diminish, and could potentially be a reason for people to come and try crypto for themselves.

In my own opinion alts have grown and crime also grows too, I think they need to settle on the security of alts, since you can hide and become anonymous this can be a big advantage for criminals, they can make transactions without getting traced and it can be bad for the wealth of these coins.

The nexus of narcotics, firearms and terrorist payments doesn't begin or end with the people dealing with it. It ruins lives where it begins. The so-called 'customers' for some of tbe worst stuff out there are people living in ddveloped countries.
The ones who get victimized are the faceless who have nobody to fight for them. Till now, it was easy for law-enforcement to claim victory by "freezing accounts" without even bothering too much about what goes underneath. Atleast, the anonymity of crypto will force their hands to actually tackle the issues that lie underneath.

---

Bombing other countries indiscriminately to maintain status quo in geopolitics is one of the main reasons behind terrorism.

Abetting illegal narcotic activity in places like Afghanistan and South America are reasons for the drugs problem.

Letting the millitary-industrial complex run amok with profit motive is the reason for proliferation of illegal arms in the street.

Let them deal with these instead of finding the easy way out with the "paper trail".

Well, this is one of the reasons why we are starting to see some level of attack on anonymous cryptocurrency such as monero, zcash and co. With regulations, I am sure it is going to be easy for the government to lay an attack on coins that are in this category by making sure they are delisted from any exchanges operating in their country.

Take a look at what Japan is doing right now; I guess that gives a clue what it is going to be like in the long run with regulation. Cryptocurrencies are going to stay with us for sure. These need of regulations or not may be decided after experiencing the consequences first.

Regulations are not going to stop criminals from using crypto. Law enforcement
globally has failed to stop criminal activity as it is. Incarceration for example is
generally speaking is not a deterrent ans nearly all high level criminals can run
their operations from prison.

Most law abiding users are going to be affected more by regulation than high level
criminals who know how to get around any regulations ... Just as they do now

Not only evil people.
Bitcoin is being used for the money-laundering industry, people who hides from the government in the money section will find bitcoin as a safe haven, not necessarily being used for committing crimes.
Some countries can't have any access to cryptocurrency and most of them can only use bitcoin in order to make money transfers.
Ofcourse the more people uses bitcoin for committing crimes, the chances of regulators to go against the network is higher.

I have noticed that too but we can't really put the blame on the growth of altcoins. It is just that crime and the criminals found another line of scamming people in altcoins or bitcoin. We have to remember that in general crime is ever increasing. A fee minutes ago, I read about a poster who lost 13btc to scammers because he wanted to claim a fork coin. Here is the thread https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=3490317.msg37379153#msg37379153

Altcoin are not really aimed to make people have a source of income. Altcoin are made for some purposes and that is also the full anonimity that Bitcoin don't have. If criminals are using it as a way of transactions, I guess we can't really blame the crypto currency since one of its greatest feature is its financial freedom, a way for us to have a private transactions.

That's not the truth, because popularity of altcoins keeps on increasing with time to time as more and more people were getting aware about cryptocurrency. When it comes to crime, it is happening long back even when people doesn't have any idea about cryptocurrency and even before its existence. Even with regulations crimes can't be kept under control. I think the crimes happening around were correlated with the rising popularity of cryptocurrency.

The scammers are targeting the ICO market and it will change in the future with strict regulation and i expect that to happen in the next few years, Monero is used primarily used in the darkweb, i would like to see the positive things rather than the negative things in the market.

By and by I think directions are lingering behind given that most nations are just restricted to KYC and AML controls which isnt enough to terrify offenders on doing detestable acts. Cryptospace is as yet a place of refuge for tax criminals since they realize that it's anything but difficult to hurl cash all over without being seen and alarming anybody.

This is more of the same, like always the media is trying to make it seem like the only persons that use cryptocurrencies are criminals and nothing more, while there is no doubt that there is criminal activity in cryptocurrencies, this is nothing to be surprised about, there is a big amount of criminal activity in regular currencies as well and there is no one claiming that we should ban those currencies just because criminals have found a way to take advantage of it, so that is a very weak argument to try to say that cryptocurrencies need a heavy regulation.

The used of cryptocurrencies for criminal activities are getting high due to it's anonymity, but we can't make a way to stop them considering that they are also a big users for these. In a way that crypto will be regulated by the government and wiping out it's anonymity of the person involved, it may helps to avoid from using it for such activities.

This is something natural. The regulators have been trying to do this but crypto investors fuss over this, getting afraid and cashin out their holdings.
Illegal activities are inevitable. It happens everywhere. More innovations lead to more challenges that need to be solved. Let the regulators do their jobs.

Scams are continuously growing simply because alternative coin allows scammers to easily attract people to invest on something that seems to be promising but just like any other ponzi schemes. I think it would be better of regulations should be really done. Making alternative coin is so easy that anyone can make it, there should be standard and requirements to be followed when starting one.

In fact I think it is the opposite, it is true that of the beginning of the life of bitcoin a big amount of the transactions were because of criminal activities, but as bitcoin has gotten more popular most transactions are now legal, most people are just buying and selling bitcoin in exchanges in order to try to make money legally, it is obvious that there is going to be criminal activities in bitcoin there is not currency that is completely clean and that has no criminals using that currency for their benefit, just look at the US dollar, the currency of choice of criminals.

You have to blame criminals not the technology.
Humans are greedy and can do anything to have more money.
The problem with cryptocurrency is that it makes hiding criminals tracks easier especially when the criminal knows what he is doing.
I don't think that regulation or strict laws will stop people from making crimes, they will always find a way circumvent those laws

Governments are only focusing on "regulating bitcoin" at the moment. Although they are trying real hard to regulate exchanges and all that stuff,illegal activities are still being easily processed because of how easily the transactions are being manipulated. Mixers and exchanges make it even harder to track. Crime exists where money humans exist.Finally. Someone using their brains here.

I do not think that crime will increase greatly due to the growing number of altcoyns and their growing use by citizens. In any case, this is a problem of law enforcement agencies. They must look for new ways to deal with this problem. Crime is always a step ahead of law enforcement agencies in this regard, but in the end such a problem has always been solved positively. So it will be in this case.

It seems that Europe just recognise the need to put it in check. Currently there is a coalition of North American countries trying to regulate altcoins. Regulations isn't yet able to keep up but I believe that soon, it would