2012-12-18 CNN.com Bitcoin looks primed for money laundering

[Herodes]

That was quite the agressive, grim and negative article from CNN. I've been following Bitcoin a couple of years, and used it only for legitimate purposes, and find it quite interesting. I don't see the need for demonizing it in this way, unless of course (shock & horror) there is an agenda about it all.

Already the very start of the article looked like a joke to me:

The shady online currency is starting to gain legitimacy in certain parts of the world. When will the regulators catch up?

Isn't the press supposed to be objective and not subjective ? The word 'shady' could've been left out here. Would the author after all call the us govt. for 'the shady us govt.' ? I'm sure alot of people think they're shady as f**k. Also adding the part about regulators seems to indicate that the only legit and right thing is to have regulators regulate. I'm not sure everyone agrees with this.

We could also say the USD is shady, backed by nothing. We could say the CNN is shady, writing articles based on subjective opinions, and so on and so forth.

Once an author starts putting in subjective opinions in an article (perhaps he was even instructed to), I start losing respect for that author. And so, he's talking about the dark web, hitmen and so on. Has he even been on this 'dark web' himself, or is he just reciting some other sensational piece about bitcoin ?

Bitcoin is just like any technology, it can be used for good, and it can be used for bad.

[Luno]

The article is somewhat balanced. Not overly fear spreading and clearly endorsing the strengths for mundane purposes. It looks like a write up on the latest Forbes Bitcoin articles.

Another thing: lately Bitcoin is no longer described as something that might disappear overnight, there is very little reticule in mainstream media now. The article describes Bitcoin as a threat to traditional banking and as a money laundering vehicle, but there is no finger pointing or or "singling out", which is per definition hard when you are dealing with an open source voluntary P2P currency.

The article hints at Bitcoin as a target for regulatory intervention, however likewise, it also hints at Bitcoins survivability in such a scenario.

Nice work CNN. And the last paragraph: To complicated for the every Joe of the mill = If you dig Bitcoin you are smarter than average.

[marcus_of_augustus]

Good. We now know which side of the fence CNN is on .... is about the only positive thing to come out of such an affront to intelligence.

[hazek]

Good. We now know which side of the fence CNN is on .... is about the only positive thing to come out of such an affront to intelligence.

Only now we know? You can't be serious.

The corporate media propaganda machine always was and always will be serving the interest that owns it. Just go and see who pays their bills and you'll have your answer why they could never ever be a source for truth.

[elux]

Hilarious. The very first sentence had me laughing.

[Deafboy]

...it could even eventually be used by the government of Iran to buy and sell weapons and oil.

Holy mother of god I thought that we are over this shit already.

[davout]

...it could even eventually be used by the government of Iran to buy and sell weapons and oil.

Holy mother of god I thought that we are over this shit already.

why would we be ?
that part is true IMO

[Deafboy]

Tell me where to buy oil for bitcoins, and I will put all my savings in BTC before thay skyrocket over $30 again.

[Herodes]

Tell me where to buy oil for bitcoins, and I will put all my savings in BTC before thay skyrocket over $30 again.

If some 'rogue' state finds out that bitcoin is something the us govt. doesn't like, they may as well support it, just for the hell of it. :p

[BkkCoins]

Tell me where to buy oil for bitcoins, and I will put all my savings in BTC before thay skyrocket over $30 again.

Hmm. Let's see. Iran announces it will sell oil for BTC, and accumulates BTC. It then tells it's citizens it will buy Rial for BTC. Citizens trade in their useless stacks of Rial and can send BTC out of the country to fund students costs, or save in foreign banks, in US$. Or keep the BTC since their value would be backed by Iranian oil.

Doesn't seem too likely but the demand created for Rial would cause it to rebound until it is near par with US$, since the govt would in essence be buying them for US$. I think the govt would have a fair bit of flexibility for using oil to prop up the Rial.

Who knows. But it would be giving the finger to the USA and high officials could pre-buy BTC to take advantage of the resulting price surge. Of course, any play like that would have unknown consequences for BTC and really put it to the test as far as  censorship.

[davout]

Tell me where to buy oil for bitcoins, and I will put all my savings in BTC before thay skyrocket over $30 again.

...it could even eventually be used by the government of Iran to buy and sell weapons and oil.

Nuff said.

[DoomDumas]

But HSBC (HBC) and Standard Chartered are hardly alone in grabbing a piece of the financial underworld. Nearly every major financial institution from Credit Suisse (CS) to UBS (UBS) to JPMorgan (JPM) have been fined at some point for facilitating questionable transactions for governments or individuals they knew they shouldn't be dealing with. It is understandable why the banks participated in such business – it is extremely profitable.

Priceless,

Those banks get cought and fine to have facilitated questionnable transactions for govt or individuals, they knew that it was'nt legal, paid a small fee compared to their profit, why would they stop ?  It is extremely profitalbe..  but it's ok, scince they pay the small fee..

Like any corp who would prefer to pollute, knowing that the "fee" is much smaller than the cost of not poluting.. but it's ok..


Like many said, this article is quite an insult to the intelligence of the reader, but unfortunatly, most of their reader take it for cash, because of the sacrosanct nature of the source !

Most reader/listener of CNN are just sleeping sheep !

It may be the begining of the attack against bitcoin, as some power begins to realize that bitcoin gives power to peoples, and they can't do anything against it.. first, the mass media will demonize bitcoin for the point of view of the mass (sleeping couch sheep), then legislation against BTC will be welcomed for the majority of peoples, who source their truth from TVs..

Hope some awaken contry will adopt bitcoin to counter balance all this shit !

[DoomDumas]

Indeed, authorities in the US and Europe are already concerned that Bitcoins could soon grow in value and become a major problem.

Wake up, BTC are so much undervaluated !
Legislators are so slow to act, BTC may worth 1000$ each before any laws conter is use/possession  

What we do know is that Bitcoins operate in some sort of legal grey area

Because it's a currency backed by "nothing" 

Indeed, part of the crash in BitCoin value last summer was due in part to a major heist at one of the major online exchanges by cyber bandits.

A crash last summer ?  Is it about this fast varation in the price, wich corrected quite fast, like a failed pump and dump from a scammer named Pi__40 ?

Not a crash, just a scammer dump, over a few weeks period, it does'nt affect the BTC ratio to USD.

[World]

really nice comment from Alfred,I have to copy here:

What a mess of FUD. Key points of the article are just wrong.

1. Bitcoin is not suitable for large-scale money laundering. All transactions are stored permanently in a distributed public ledger. If it is possible to identify some reciever and trace back recievements of payments, authors of illegal activities could be found.

2. The exchange rate has still some significant volatility, but it is clearly decreasing. If an online vendor receives bitcoins for payments and converts them on the spot, the exchange rate risk is very low for him. If you account for that risk and compare it to fees for credit card processing and the risk of charebacks, it is much cheaper. There are services which do automatic conversions for online services and merchants. And these are used by NGOs and companies like WordPress.

3. Much more interesting than for money laundering is bitcoin for money transfers of migrant workers. Bitcoins can bought in almost any mayor currency of the G8+5 countries. Via services like localbitcoin.com, they can be sold in virtually any place in the world. They are ideally suited for workers form developing countries to send modest amounts of money home, much cheaper than with Western Union and the like.

4. Bitcoins have been a risky but profitable investment in the past. The exchange rate is increasing in the long run, and there is no special reason why it should not continue to do. Now, as the rapid growth of exchange rates had some slowdown, it is still quite profitable (as well as still risky). Of course, there is the danger of new bubbles... but we've seen that in the long run, the value returns.

5. The article makes a key point in the assumption that bitcoin is used predominantly for illicit trade and fails completely at proving that. The well-informed reader will know that the percentage of the shadow and informal earnings at the GDP will be usually 7 % or much higher. A significant part of this is transacted in cash. The article does not bring any proof whether bitcoins is used more for that than conventional payment methods.

6. On giving up being defensive, I think there is a area in which decentral currencies like Bitcoin could bring significant improvements for mankind: They will make it more difficult to finance war. Traditionally, war has been financed by governments stealthily printing money and raising uncovered debts, undermining stability of national currencies in one or another form. Wars have been the main causes of mayor inflations, robbing many millions of people from their savings and the result of their life's work.

7. And I have a last objection: The article arrogates that money transfers by Iranian people are per se illegitimate. I beg to differ. While I am very far away from excusing or tolerating any tyrrany or arms-trafficking, I think that people in Iran have the right to eat something, to save something and to protect their property like any human being on earth. It would be an excess of hypocrisy to cry about the death of a beautiful young human like Neda Agha-Soltan, and to deny their fellow Iranians the right to eat something. Bitcoin originates from the culture of the internet, and that is a very different culture - we understand more and more that all of us are human beings, and all of us have the same right to live.

[payb.tc]

Bitcoins can bought in almost any mayor currency

i'll give you 2.6 bloombergs per bitcoin.

[cbeast]

Tell me where to buy oil for bitcoins, and I will put all my savings in BTC before thay skyrocket over $30 again.

That will be presented at the next Bilderberg organizational meeting for the Illuminati SIG. All very hush hush, you understand.

[mikegogulski]

Silly article mentions my bitlaundry site and they don't even bother trying to get a hold of me for a quote. This, sir, is an outrage!

[odolvlobo]

Indeed, part of the crash in BitCoin value last summer was due in part to a major heist at one of the major online exchanges by cyber bandits.

A crash last summer ?  Is it about this fast varation in the price, wich corrected quite fast, like a failed pump and dump from a scammer named Pi__40 ?

Not a crash, just a scammer dump, over a few weeks period, it does'nt affect the BTC ratio to USD.

Not that crash. This crash:

[Yankee (BitInstant)]

Here is me pretty much bashing the author on twitter https://twitter.com/csanati/status/281850206838996992

[Herodes]

Here is me pretty much bashing the author on twitter https://twitter.com/csanati/status/281850206838996992

@CharlieShrem @sebicas Lies? I am not in the disinformation business. If I made a mistake, please be specific. I spent days researching

I guess he was assigned the task by a supervisor which basically said: Hear, this bitcoin stuff, our owners don't like it, write some negative piece on it.