Bitcoin Forum

A French security official was arrested last week on charges of selling state secrets on the dark web and accepting bitcoin in return.

https://www.coindesk.com/french-officials-allege-intelligence-agent-sold-state-secrets-for-bitcoin/


Has bitcoin become the preferred payment method of organized crime groups?

Lol,quite a funny one, Judas sold Jesus Christ for 12 pieces of silver,one of the highest crimes till date,and up till now silver is still precious and it's popularity hasn't waned

 If bitcoin can be used as payment for more crimes in exchange for far more popularity,acceptability and stability,i think more payments should definitely be made ;D

Nope. The U.S. dollar still reigns supreme as the currency of choice for organized crime.

All publicity is good publicity. Also, the fact that organized crime groups are using it shows that it's the most secure and efficient means of payment out there. These aspects are much more important in their case.

But i think that mostly peoples are using BTC positively for their interests and also for the business purpose. Don't think about those peoples who are involved in the bad activities.

Well bitcoin just like every other currency has it lapses even the dollars and the Euro can be use by criminal on the dark market but why crime rate using bitcoin is high is due to is decentralized natour and how volatile the market is. Bitcoin transactions can never be trace by any body or government.

As far as I know, criminal transactions using bitcoin are quite insignificant compared to operations using cash. Just about bitcoin in this way love to be mentioned in the media.

maybe it could happen to be used for crime, but what I think is that if bitcoin is used in a crime, it will certainly be discovered because now it's using the Kyc system

I think you don't have to be too negative in seeing bitcoin. Whether fiat can't be used for crime needs, of course it can be used for crime.

it might be used by criminals and in criminal purposes, but thank god now there is a KYC procedure which is obligatory for everyone

Not nope, YES. Bitcoin is the best payment method for them, then they exchange bitcoins in usd, so this is the time when, as you say dollar reigns supeme as the currency choice.
OP bitcoin was and will be their go to payment method but I think monero will take part of btc soon.

Why do we always ascribed crime to bitcoin and cryptocurrency is it due to it high decentralization or being free from regulations.

Bitcoin will like real fiat, it can be used for anything. Even fiat money can used by organized crime too. Maybe not too exposed because it is already common. But, bitcoin is something new, that is why it always exposed.

The more criminal that interacts with cryptocurrency, the better. If a criminal has too much use of some kind of cryptocurrency, then the government may try to destroy this cryptocurrency along with the money of the crime.

Bitcoin is preferred since its pseudo-anonym currency and it could become an untraceable currency. But if we look to cryptocurrencies adoption and governments regulation at the end of the day I believe it will be converted to fiat first. Actually, any untraceable currency is a heaven for illegal activity. But that does not meat Fiat is free from any crime and illegal thing.

I often hear about this. about how bitcoin becomes payment for crimes. but in my opinion they can make payments through anything not just bitcoin. bitcoin is only one of them

I'd hate for people to think that because of the association of Bitcoin and organized crime, it automatically gets the red flag, when in fact, it is actually one of the safest payment methods out there. Hopefully this doesn't end it for those who know nothing about crypto.

the example you posted here is only one person doing a dumb thing of accepting a traceable currency while doing something illegal. it has nothing to do with "organized crime" if you don't know what that means read this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organized_crime

and for what its worth bitcoin like any other currency is used for a wide variety of purposes. obviously some of them are not legal like when you use US dollar for illegal activities.

this needs to be watched out, because some time ago bitcoin was rumored to be one of the payment methods for crime groups including terrorism. this can be a threat to the survival of bitcoin if it is proven to be used for crime. but we can stay positive with these conditions if many people still use bitcoin for positive things.

Fiat has been used for organized crimes for so long. Criminals use anything they could get profit from. Though its difficult to be traced trait fueled criminal organizations, but its still wrong to defame Bitcoin.

The anonymous  structure of bitcoin  is the more reason why criminals  prefer it to fiat currency in recent times.

It is a known fact that there is no measures to link a notion currency to the offline address of its owners.
So even politicians now find it easy to launder funds using it.

Drug traffickers,  terrorism sponsors are not left out too.
I think, this is the more reason why some drastic measures should be put in place ,such as strict compliance to kyc/aml process  by cryptocurrency exchanges in order to mitigate the risk being posed by this.

I think it's not a bitcoin's fault. Because there are two kinds of good people in society. Bitcoin can not be a criminal because of the fact that he liked Bitcoin as an offense. He loved Bitcoin for survival. Many criminal groups use gold as their means of exchange. So gold can not be dropped from the market. And now, dollars more than Bitcoin, gold is more like my opinion. That's why I think Bitcoin is not compatible with Bitcoin for organized crime.

This is just an isolated case. If organized crime are really wise guys then bitcoin is not the preferred coins because its completely traceable on blockchain.

And its still, guess what, the US Dollar is their top choice.

You can also read this news, https://news.bitcoin.com/illegal-activity-use-bitcoin-dea-agent/

These are media rhetorics to further disway the mind of investors in bitcoin and cryptocurrency. As has been noted by several comments above, organize crime has been funded through all known currencies - dollar, pound, yen, etc. So why then has this bitcoin own has become spectacular?

Ok, let's analyse this quickly. So, most methods of converting bitcoins to fiat, has to happen through regulated exchanges and these exchanges use strict KYC/AML regulations to identify the users behind the bitcoins.

You are definitely not going to convert loads of coins anonymously with P2P transactions, because this will be impracticable on the scale that organized crime is operating at.

The other thing is, all Bitcoin tx's are reflected on the Blockchain and they do not know what law enforcement use to track these coins. 

Why should it? One accident doesn't prove anything, criminals have much more to do than keep an eye on the exchange rates and trade.

This your question seems out of place as it breeds some level of ignorance (apologies). He was caught for selling state secret. Even without bitcoin, he would still be selling it. Since time immemorial countries have been spying on each other while they have dirty agents all over the place working against the country they swore allegiance to get to an end. It may not necessarily be for money, it could be for favor, undue influence, coercion etc.

Bring bitcoin to the matter, its more of propaganda than being effective as they are trying to send a message that those who are doing so, we are coming for you and we should take the positive from the situation that eventually those who use bitcoin for dark transactions would no longer feel comfortable doing so.

If I am a smart or intelligent criminal, why would I continue to use Bitcoin or use Bitcoin transaction to pay if I know there are a lot of criminals out there being caught using Bitcoin. That just proves that Bitcoin is not entirely anonymous.

And that will ne the same for a lot of other crminals or maybe "organized crime". There are reports these crimnals being caught and that is enough prrof not to use it.

true, cryptocurrency has developed if it transacts a lot in the exchange place, now the exchange place using KYC, as you said that we can find the perpetrator's transaction, and ask everyone not to try to deteriorate bitcoin especially for you crypto players, you get money from crypto and you make your income place worse in the eyes of people in the world, people like this that will make Crypto destroyed

Many criminal are looking for more secure and anonymous way to make transaction without being detected and that the reason why they use cryptocurrency but above the criminal still got apprehended. You know no matter how good something created is, some will still make terrible thing out of it. beside when crypto being related with crime, it make me wonder that is the only currency criminl use to perpetuate evil act. other currencies are also guilty of being used for criminal activities depending on which perspective you are looking at it

bitcoin is not a means to commit bitcoin crime is created purely as a means to conduct transaction and investment activities digitally, but there are some parties that use bitcoin as a means of crime even in carrying out criminal activities many methods can be done other than using bitcoin as a means.

not only is bitcoin that can be used for crime, but fiat money is also widely used as a crime tool, so don't worry too much about the negative side of bitcoin, it's better to see the positive side because it's far more profitable than the negative side.

In the event that bitcoin can be utilized as installment for more wrongdoings in return for unquestionably popularity,acceptability and stability,i figure more installments should be made.

because bitcoin is anonymous, so it becomes an alternative payment about crime, so that the owner does not see it, besides that bitcoin can be done for payment quickly without any verification of large numbers of IDs or others. this is the choice of criminals to make their crime faster and instant. because all that is needed can be obtained easily through bitcoin. including purchasing important country information ..

In an online transaction like dark web bitcoin is more conveniently, more appealing to lawbreaker to use and the promise of anonymity that is totally untrue except those who literally knows how.

Cash still the preferred payment that doesn’t leave any trail or documentation, not like cryptocurrency that is well logged. This is just pure propaganda from those been affected by its existence.

Obviously yes, you read your own posted link right? Meaning by means of bitcoin, bad people can hide their identity to create/make a crime. But unfortunately he got caught and arrested. Bitcoin is not to be a tool of creating a crime but people do it and only used bitcoin to their evil job.

This is certainly true because the anonymity of transaction when using bitcoin makes them aggressive in doing this kind of things.  That's mainly the reason why they prefer this payment method because they can easily avoid the law.

My opinion is that we should not be so negative in the form of bitcoin. Because now there is a cold KYC. Which is mandatory for everyone. It will protect us

Thisis true, I do not remember the site but I read some facts saying that it is realy the dollar. Some groups felt difficulty in using cryptocurrency that is why they prefer using fiat, such as dollar. And we all know that in fiat currency, dollar has the highest value so far.

Seeing the report one thing is sure that CRIME NEVER PAYS, What ever and how ever smartly you do crime but you will be caught. This is not only through Bitcoin but even with fiat currency and precious metals are also done but still cryptocurrency is getting more highlight due to its Negative popularity in society.

What ever the media tell but one thing is sure that this type of news are giving more popularity to cryptocurrency.

Cryptocurrency is organized for crime? I don't think so...though majority maybe using it but it solely to create privacy for ones spending.By virtue of that many organized crime may prefer using Bitcoin to keep the traces of there financial activities from securities.

Can you compare criminal act that use bitcoin and money fiat? you can add it all up. I can make a conclusion that money fiat is still widely used as an illegal purchase be compared to bitcoin. And did you know all bitcoin transactions can be seen transparently? different from money fiat which was difficult to track every transaction. Each currency can be used as a tool for illegal actions, however for people who will use bitcoin as a tool for crime I bet they will think thousands of times to do it.

yes, basically there is no difference between the deeds that are done using bitcoin, or fiat. both are also often used for negative things. but people think of something worse for bitcoin, and I think it's natural. yeah, but for now, so many people use bitcoin for positive things.

Despite the fact that bitcoin is use for online payment in a decentralized approach, which can never be trace the truth still remains that bitcoin is the best and secured mode of doing transactions in a peer to peer platform. But even the us dollars euro are all use to carry out crimes so is not only bitcoin that is use for organized crime.

No matter what anyone has to say but nothing can beat cash for organized crimes. Maybe bitcoins are an easy and very safe method for facilitating organized crimes but not all criminal elements have access to technology and know anything about bitcoins. It is only for the technologically aware and sophisticated crime syndicates that are using bitcoin as a mode of payment.

this can happen anytime and anywhere as a new payment method that is rather difficult to know who the players behind bitcoin are in my opinion bitcoin is very secret and it is difficult to find anyone involved . and my hope is that the development of bitcoin will monitor by the country's security forces. international intelligence

Unlike bank transfers, translation in Bitcoins does not require identification. For dark personalities it is convenient.

It is a very alarming matter that Bitcoin is now being used by criminal activities because it is a decentralized peer to peer network. No government regulatory authority is behind it. This advantages take few people in Bitcoin and implement it in illegal activities.

I think news like this can drop the price of bitcoin because every time there is untrue news, the impact on crypto and this is one method that is made so that bitcoin goes down and large investors buy it with substantial capital so the market is made unstable.

Once you come to your senses, you'll realized that there are still crimes by an anonymous person with secrecy websites and ofcourse with untraces payments like bitcoin. But of course, only few people is using bitcoin to do such crimes. Mostly syndicates. Ive remembered someone posted about one movie that uses bitcoin as a payment in doing unlawful act.

I agree, certain elements in the main financial industry do not liek Bitcoin and they keep trying to label it as a haven for drug dealers and terrorists and the dark web. Of course criminals will find any way possible to transfer money through their network, but they have been using FIAT for centuries to do their dirty work, so why pick on Bitcoin as something bad/ A knife is sued to kill but it is also used in the kitchen to chop vegetables so we can cook and eat.

These are just exceptions.

Most of the users are common people like you and me. They are investing just because they expect good returns and there is nothing illegal involved with this in my opinion.

As matter of fact, it does. An organized crime group use bitcoin as a payment method because bitcoin has many advantages for them, such as untraceable, safe, fast transaction, etc. That makes them comfortably moving around running their dirty works using bitcoin. But don't blame bitcoin for all the bad things happened. Bitcoin is just a tool, depends on whom using it.

Let me guess, he was caught because he was trace thru blockchain transaction. His transaction can be anonymous but it doesn't mean he cannot be e trace. Blockchain is a public ledger, anyone who use it in illegal activities can easily be trace.

although now it has not been proven if bitcoin is an asset for criminal organizations. but I think that if that happens it will definitely be dangerous and it will make one of the bitcoin effects will be banned in various countries. but I hope that bitcoin is not used by criminal organizations.

I have several questions to ask.
1 How did they know if the person did not try to exchange in an exchanger the makes it compulsory for users to undergo KYC?
2 Before the inception of bitcoin what was the mode of payment of people in the darkweb.

If we all answer this questions sincerely we will all discover that crime was in existence before the invention of bitcoin.
Let us not paint bitcoin black just because of this.

The question has been asked over and over here in the forum. The answers are still the same... If Bitcoin is used by organized crime it is minimal compared to fiat. And the Bitcoin activity on the dark web has decreased by over 70% in just 5 years

Bitcoin is the same as any other item, how is the user. if the user is used positively, it will be good, so don't blame Bitcoin, just blame the user. crime like this I think don't just Bitcoin, even currency other can be used by criminals

And even if it is being used then what? Why should we even care? Why should anyone care?
Guns are used to commit crimes, does that make them a bad tool? No. Does it change anything? Still no because guns are still being produced and sold and you still can buy a shotgun at Walmart.
People should really stop worrying about things they cannot control.

That's the wrong way of thinking.
On the one hand, yes, crypto is used on the Dark Net. But Isn't fiat currency used to buy and sell anything illegal?
Moreover, BTC is more transparent than fiat, since all the transactions are seen in ledger.

I think, not only Bitcoin can be used as a method of payment for groups of bad people. Fiat currency can also be used as a method of payment for bad people.
Assuming that Bitcoin is dangerous, I think it's wrong. Bitcoin is a dead item used by living people.
when there is information about Bitcoin that is used by a group of bad people, then the news will make people afraid to use Bitcoin and this has been set by Business Politics. if something cannot be shaken, it will be collapsed using cunning methods, such as news spread.

I don't think it's just bitcoin but money can also be used for crime. and many people take advantage of negative news and associate bitcoin with crime so that the price of bitcoin falls. but I believe in the purpose of creating bitcoin for good and making it easy to transact

Bitcoin is not the problem, even before it people have been taking part in organized crimes getting payment in one form or another.

Judas sold Jesus for 30 pieces, know your Bible
and the "bitcoin is the preferred payment of organized crime" has been debunked ages ago
it dwarves in comparison to USD in terms of volumes, hell in every aspect there is
the thing is that bitcoin is a relative novelty and anything that happens to it crime related immediately makes the news
while there are millions of dollars stolen and paid in ransoms, bribes etc. daily that nobody really cares about

I am very happy to know that I own a coin that is compliant with AML and KYC. AML BitCoin rests on a privately regulated public blockchain that facilitates AML-KYC compliance and identifies criminals associated with illicit transactions while maintaining and strengthening the privacy protections for legitimate users.

I believe bitcoin just like other currencies can be used for both good and bad intentions depending on the holder of the money. Hence one cannot  easily say that bitcoin is use for dishonest purposes.

Bitcoin is accepted by dumb criminals that don't realise that bitcoin is traceable. They should start to accept anonymous / privacy based crypto like deeponion or xspec

Definitely! US dollar is the dominated currency chosen for organized crime. If they will accept cryptocurrency as their payment, they can track by the use of internet. Even there is a decentralized or anonymity in cryptocurrency, criminals will never sacrifice their specially that there is an intelligence group used by the government to locate the criminals.

I think that criminals should beware of using Bitcoin. Bitcoin stores all transactions that have been online and this will make it harder for criminals to hide the relationship between their wallets.

Unfortunately yes, most of the "secret" transaction that require more anonymity, the people will prefer to used bitcoin, if we are talking about darkweb then all of the transaction will be using bitcoin, but bitcoin is just a medium, so whatever the transaction happen people should not blame the bitcoin, fiat also constantly being used for crime

money and bitcoin can always be used as any tool, good or bad depending on the user. Like a knife, if you use it wisely, it will be useful.

Of course not, when bitcoin becomes the preferred payment method under any circumstance then that is when you can say that it has become the preferred method for criminals, until that happens bitcoin is still a currency that is only used by a very small segment of the population and that is not really popular, so like always people are overreacting for a single news that does not represent what really happens.

It all depends on the user, one policy in using bitcoin is a positive thing. But there are still many people who use bitcoin and crypto for a fraud and enrich themselves, and all that goes back to the owner.

Even fiat is also used for illegal activities? so what exactly is the meaning of this thread? do you want to make a bad image about bitcoin? because this topic itself has become a public secret, everyone knows about this

Well if you think bitcoin is an organised then satoshi nakamoto would be the godfather  ;D Well that's just a very wrong view about bitcoin

Bitcoin is by no means 'fueling' organized crime. They are simply taken advantaged of. It is meant to empower people, and people here just happen to include the bad guys.  :-\

When Satoshi created bitcoin in 2009, it was never his intentions for bad guys to use it in proagating organized crimes.
The bad guys are using bitcoin because of the anonymous structure, where you cannot be directly linked with your cryptocurrency wallet.
So they see it as a means of hiding their activities away from public scrutiny.

Lol. Any thinking person wouldn't make a big deal out of this. Obviously what you can do with fiat, you can also do with bitcoin. Given btc's decentralized and anonymous nature, it gives illegal activities more options so why wouldn' they use it.

Thats what I mean, this has become a public secret that bitcoin is decentralized and anonymous, of course some users use that facility for illegal activities, even though it is not visible, but it has become a public secret.

I am sure that now a lot of money is being washed with Bitcoin, but this does not mean that this is his main problem at the moment

I think there is high possibility that organize crime group use bitcoin in their transaction to misdirect the investigation of police officers in the place they are committing an offense.

Yes, sure - it is not correct to blame Bitcoin. It is not a very convenient tool in the hands of the criminal authorities. Most guys that deal with the guns and drugs are very conservative people and prefer USD - mostly cash.

bitcoin is always associated with criminal organizations. we know that there are many that provide bitcoin statements used for terrorism, drugs, pornography and other crimes. but believe if criminals still need money to be more important than just using bitcoin

It is just one of a very few cases. May be that guy thought it would be safe to sell for bitcoins. Any was bitcoin is hardly to beat US dollars and euros in criminal spher.

 bitcoin is use for online payment in a decentralized approach, which can never be trace the truth still remains that bitcoin is the best and secured mode of doing transactions in a peer to peer platform. But even the us dollars euro are all use to carry out crimes so is not only bitcoin that is use for organized crime.

Bitcoin can be used as a currency for criminals it's true. But for the criminal world is much more attractive dollars, euros and other national money, which is not so easy to track and much easier to use. Therefore, it is unlikely that criminals will bother so much and switch to the digital currency.

This is a big problem for Bitcoin, as I believe that a lot of illegal money is laundered through it.

Bitcoin to be choosen in dark web because its untraceable. I dont believe bitcoin is for criminal activity because its depend on our self. We can use bitcoin for charity or criminal activity its depend on us.

I don't think there's any point in linking bitcoin to crime at all. Criminals use the currencies that are most convenient. And bitcoin is still quite inconvenient to use, so it is unlikely it can be used in the criminal world.

Before the existence of bitcoin,  what was the means used to pay for crime acts like this?  A sure its the old money fiat system. Despite the fact the it's centralized and can be monitored,  yet it didn't put an end to it.  And now that bitcoin gives room for anonymity and privacy,  it's now being used for some purpose not good.  It doesn't matter because one sure thing is that you can censor how people spend their money and what they use it to do. 

I think the dollar and other national currencies are still more relevant for criminals. And even though bitcoin is untraceable, criminals still won't use it instead of dollars.

Criminals can actually use bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. A fact. But I'm more annoyed that it becomes an argument of skeptics against bitcoin. Because they can also use the usual national currency, especially the us dollar.

One of the perks and benefits of block chain and the reason why it was built in the first place is anonymity. And that is something that is quite appealing to someone who wants to make some money laundering. I have heard about stories that BTC is really popular in Columbia, also Poland. There are some stories, but how much of it is true, who knows. But it seems like a reasonable doubt that something like this is possible. No one asks you, where did your money come from and you can buy and sell next moment and get yourself some clean dollars.

I think bitcoin is still not so easy to use and not all ordinary people can use it. And criminals digital currency will only interfere and, it seems to me, it is much easier for them to use for their illegal transactions conventional cash.

maybe in my opinion, if I search in the deep web there are still many black markets that sell buy illegal goods or services with bitcoin. Although the current system uses a lot of cards, they also have many ways to cheat the system

Just grow up, man! the king of Organized Crime is only the USD, not BTC.

We cannot ensure that bitcoin users will use bitcoin in legal or positive terms. In fact there are still many people who use bitcoin as a legal payment system and even this helps them to transact, as for those who use bitcoin as an illegal payment system, surely we cannot blame what they have done. Look at money fiat, does the government blame their currency when the people use the currency for illegal things?

It is possible that bitcoin has become an organized crime tool, but paper money can also be used as an organized crime, bitcoin is far more profitable if used correctly, rather than being used for organized crime.

Crimes can be done in any way, unfair if punishing objects is not the subject. bitcoin is an asset and can be used to do whatever it can. just like money. there must be supervision so that bitcoin is not used as a tool to commit crime.

Is cash not used as well, I don't see what is new in this and there is not that man made for good that some will not used for bad thing, so the real user will only make way for better things and those who are making way to spoil the good work will also be working hard but we in collection had to do everything to make them stop.

I don't think so. Who want to use bitcoin for that reason if we have lot of anonymous coins (monero, verge, Zcash) which transactions can not be seen.

The anonymity brought good and bad as always. Just think about it, the possibilities are numerous. You can transfer the indefinite amount of money from one part of the world to another one without explaining to the banks and governments where did that money come from. Heaven on Earth.

I think bitcoin is widely used by perpetrators of crime, because of anonymous factors. However, not all criminals use bitcoin because it is not easy, where bitcoin will also be tracked where it flows, unlike fiat money which can be used immediately. So criminals who use bitcoin are criminals who master technology.