Bitcoin used to do money laundering - will it become a huge problem?

[QuestionAuthority]

The best way to launder money with Bitcoin currently is by using the growing real estate market.

There are many places in the world to buy thousands of btc at a time and transfer them to your own wallet without flagging government oversight. Then you use that btc to purchase real estate. Here's some examples:

http://bitcoinhomes.org

http://bitcoin-realestate.com

http://bitcoinrealestate.com.au

https://www.bitpremier.com/5-real-estate

The rest is easy. You simply sit on the real estate for a number of years then list it for-sale-by-owner. If you're lucky you can even make a profit on the increased equity when you sell.

Another possibility is to use the purchased real estate as a rental property and profit from a continuous legal income stream legitimizing the tainted money.

This isn't my idea. I visited a dark web forum once where there was a guy bragging about stealing 25,000 btc. He was being harassed by a bunch of people telling him he'll never be able to dump that much btc, bla bla. His response was that he already dumped it into three rental properties in Cyprus. Smart guy!

[morantis]

The only problem that this will create and has to some degree is the fact that the government will jump in and start trying to control Bitcoin.  There are already tons of regulations on exchange sites that make buying Bitcoin with FIAT or vice versa hard to do.  So, Bitcoin is currently used to launder money and always will, but the affect will not be on Bitcoin itself, but on the structure of exchanges and the future of how it is used.

[bitlancr]

The way I think it will become as problem is when the media lets out all the negative stuff that's being done with bitcoin. Which is not really good for bitcoin if we all want it to grow. The best possible way for bitcoin to grow is when there's a huge demand for it.

[Kprawn]

The best way to launder money with Bitcoin currently is by using the growing real estate market.

There are many places in the world to buy thousands of btc at a time and transfer them to your own wallet without flagging government oversight. Then you use that btc to purchase real estate. Here's some examples:

http://bitcoinhomes.org

http://bitcoin-realestate.com

http://bitcoinrealestate.com.au

https://www.bitpremier.com/5-real-estate

The rest is easy. You simply sit on the real estate for a number of years then list it for-sale-by-owner. If you're lucky you can even make a profit on the increased equity when you sell.

Another possibility is to use the purchased real estate as a rental property and profit from a continuous legal income stream legitimizing the tainted money.

This isn't my idea. I visited a dark web forum once where there was a guy bragging about stealing 25,000 btc. He was being harassed by a bunch of people telling him he'll never be able to dump that much btc, bla bla. His response was that he already dumped it into three rental properties in cypress. Smart guy!

So none of these sites are being audited? How do you register real estate without paying taxes? .... The story sounds a bit suspect to me. At some stage someone is going

to put two and two together and do a lifestyle audit on him and starts asking the right questions. I too own rental property and I have to give detailed information every

year for tax purposes. If I suddenly buy more property, they will start asking questions. This sounds fishy....  

[morantis]

The way I think it will become as problem is when the media lets out all the negative stuff that's being done with bitcoin. Which is not really good for bitcoin if we all want it to grow. The best possible way for bitcoin to grow is when there's a huge demand for it.

True, but at least it is getting the word out there and in people's head.  There was a time when no one had the least clue.

[QuestionAuthority]

The best way to launder money with Bitcoin currently is by using the growing real estate market.

There are many places in the world to buy thousands of btc at a time and transfer them to your own wallet without flagging government oversight. Then you use that btc to purchase real estate. Here's some examples:

http://bitcoinhomes.org

http://bitcoin-realestate.com

http://bitcoinrealestate.com.au

https://www.bitpremier.com/5-real-estate

The rest is easy. You simply sit on the real estate for a number of years then list it for-sale-by-owner. If you're lucky you can even make a profit on the increased equity when you sell.

Another possibility is to use the purchased real estate as a rental property and profit from a continuous legal income stream legitimizing the tainted money.

This isn't my idea. I visited a dark web forum once where there was a guy bragging about stealing 25,000 btc. He was being harassed by a bunch of people telling him he'll never be able to dump that much btc, bla bla. His response was that he already dumped it into three rental properties in cypress. Smart guy!

So none of these sites are being audited? How do you register real estate without paying taxes? .... The story sounds a bit suspect to me. At some stage someone is going

to put two and two together and do a lifestyle audit on him and starts asking the right questions. I too own rental property and I have to give detailed information every

year for tax purposes. If I suddenly buy more property, they will start asking questions. This sounds fishy....  

I'm not sure as he didn't go over any details but I do know legal requirements are different in every jurisdiction. He may pay the taxes in fiat but traded for the properties in btc. Are your rental properties on the island of Cyprus?

[davinchi]

Money laundering is something that is on government to track and watch.
Laundering is older than bitcoin, so we cant do anything about that!

If bitcoin can be used for money laundering, there must be a way to stop those criminals using bitcoin for such fraudulent act. When problems arise, solutions will always rise also. If criminals try such, the world will always find a way to prevent and eliminate them. It's not just a bitcoin's problem.

[n2004al]

Whats your thought on this?

For a lot of criminals Bitcoins are the perfect tool to launder money or not? Almost no trace but still they have to explain how they got the money once they convert it back into dollars....
Will this become (or already is) a problem? I'm thinking that the anonymity will be a problem for a lot of governments once BTC becomes a well know payment method.

Cannot be possible. Every exchange whenever it could be must have the data of all the customers who want to make big amounts of change. The few amounts cannot serve for laundering because are nothing for that who want to "bleach" money. While if want to change big amounts is easily identifiable because of conditions above told and must be fulfilled by law by every exchange. So any kind of risk for bitcoin. To not tell that the regulation of it will reinforce (or have already reinforced there where is regulated) the rules against this kind of activity.

[QuestionAuthority]

Whats your thought on this?

For a lot of criminals Bitcoins are the perfect tool to launder money or not? Almost no trace but still they have to explain how they got the money once they convert it back into dollars....
Will this become (or already is) a problem? I'm thinking that the anonymity will be a problem for a lot of governments once BTC becomes a well know payment method.

Cannot be possible. Every exchange whenever it could be must have the data of all the customers who want to make big amounts of change. The few amounts cannot serve for laundering because are nothing for that who want to "bleach" money. While if want to change big amounts is easily identifiable because of conditions above told and must be fulfilled by law by every exchange. So any kind of risk for bitcoin. To not tell that the regulation of it will reinforce (or have already reinforced there where is regulated) the rules against this kind of activity.

It's actually not even difficult for a world traveler (which I assume most criminals are).

First go to Panama and open a bank account at multibank. https://www.multibank.com.pa/en/private-banking/default.htm   You don't really need to go to Panama but it probably makes it easier.

Use your new account to purchase MoneyPolo prepaid Mastercards in $25,000 increments.  https://moneypolo.com/int-en/products/prepaid-cards/ Open an account at BTCe https://btc-e.com and fund it using the MoneyPolo cards. Use the BTCe website to buy bitcoins and withdraw them to your personal wallet. Use the Bitcoin to buy anything from real estate to luxury cars and planes.

[ShrykeZ]

Pretty sure USD is the most used currency for money laundering, but as others have said there are flags in place with most banking systems.

[owm123]

Pretty sure USD is the most used currency for money laundering, but as others have said there are flags in place with most banking systems.

But fiat money are controlled by governments and banks, and they can print it at will. So government and banks will not ban fiat money or do anything to harm themselves.

With bitcoin this is not the case. Thus governments and banksters try need to squash it, before they loose all control.

[BellaBitBit]

The problem is mostly the negative publicity associated with it IMO.. It's just an excuse for the media to talk bad about it because they are scared of it..

The people who swallow this "negative publicity" BS are mostly ignorant regular joes who largely hold no value.

Let the media talk, people with large pockets looking for a secure way to hide their wealth might notice and figure out there might be something for them in Bitcoin 

Agreed.  It is mostly negative publicity.  Money laundering goes on in all currencies.  What about counterfeit bills?  We should have stopped printing more money then because of counterfeiting.  I think eventually there will be less and less talk of this with Bitcoin.  There are too many investors going all in on this and they don't seem to be concerned.

[Jeremycoin]

NO it won't, as long as you're still in the good way. Don't use Bitcoin for a bad purpose, use it for the good things.

[wafersticks09]

I dont think so coz there is bitcoin mixer that you can use to mix the tainted coin.

[The Sceptical Chymist]

Should it become a huge problem?  No.  It's probably a bit more useful for laundering money than some other things, but eh.

Is it going to become a huge problem?  Maybe.  Especially if gov'ts want to restrict bitcoin's use, they could make it seem like it's a huge issue.  Like the drug laws in the United States and elsewhere.  We've seen this sort of shitty gov't behavior in the past and it wouldn't surprise me if they threw up money laundering as a smokescreen. 

[owm123]

I dont think so coz there is bitcoin mixer that you can use to mix the tainted coin.

So you mixing coins with other tainted coins, potentially even dirtier than your own coins. Definitely a great idea \s.

[SFR10]

Well to start, BTCitcoin doesn't have a total anonymity and as a matter of fact, it's pseudonymous and once someone gives a name to their addresses, it could be traced easily and be identified meaning there's a higher chance for criminals that use BTCitcoin to be caught than those who use fiat itself so as result BTCitcoin isn't a perfect tool for criminals after all.

[Kevin77]

Yes it will become a huge problem because of money laundering. The governments must require to take legal actions for that. Some secure measure and laws must have to publish by the unions of states especially UNO, as about more than half of the world is going to depend on bitcoin in finance in very near future.

[Amph]

I dont think so coz there is bitcoin mixer that you can use to mix the tainted coin.

that's exactly the problem they can mixed every time making them un-dirty and thus used for anything illecite, that's their point

however those who want to be regulated will simply put their coins on website like coinbase to avoid trouble, the other need to declare their income in some way

even with cash you can avoid moey laundering, those can be easily falsified

[bob123]

Thats true but i dont thinke that this will be a too huge of a problem