Money Laundering "Not Possible" with Bitcoin?

[owm123]

Nothing, but what is stopping your bank to declare bankrupt??

For once banks are insured and regulated by government. I dont know of any mixers insured against theft, especially underground mixers.

[enhu]

I'm not so sure about that. Although Bitcoin is not anonymous, it is still pseudonymous. If you are looking at transactions, you don't know who exactly is behind an address and where those Bitcoins in that address came from. You don't know whether the money is from fraud or from legitimate business. And with mixing services and through other methods of anonymization like CoinJoin, it can make tracing Bitcoin extremely difficulty such that it is impossible to know who actually committed a crime and used Bitcoin to launder the money.

True.  However, when it is time to convert from bitcoin back to fiat, problems will once again arise. It's at that point where the person cashing the coin would need to show the legitimacy of their income. If suddenly I were cashing out +10K USD, then alarms would be triggered and I would have to show where that income came from when asked.

So less than $10K would still be possible. $9K is enough of a motivation to do something miraculous by using mixers or simply exchange sites so long as they use fake IDs.
the may even make it hard for those who want to track transactions by going into different mixers and then mix it again and then send few coins to each address and then mix again before turning it into fiat.

[7788bitcoin]

It seems like another discussion about how to be anonymous to use bitcoin. As long as you can get online using a random network (like hacking into a WEP wifi network), and you use a device that is obtained without needing your ID (like "borrowing" from a stranger?), then you can be anonymous.

But then, how are you going to change your coin back to fiat is the other issue....

[romero121]

It seems like another discussion about how to be anonymous to use bitcoin. As long as you can get online using a random network (like hacking into a WEP wifi network), and you use a device that is obtained without needing your ID (like "borrowing" from a stranger?), then you can be anonymous.

But then, how are you going to change your coin back to fiat is the other issue....

buying from a user and using will surely make some issues. To my knowledge most of the people don't try to get into such stuffs. Eventhough if something is borrowed from a stranger without proper id one can be easily tracked with these days technologies. Blankly we can't say that money laundering not possible. There might be people who has involved in it.

[bitbaby]

It seems like another discussion about how to be anonymous to use bitcoin. As long as you can get online using a random network (like hacking into a WEP wifi network), and you use a device that is obtained without needing your ID (like "borrowing" from a stranger?), then you can be anonymous.

But then, how are you going to change your coin back to fiat is the other issue....

Thats the whole point, you can send btc from one place to the another anonymously but converting it back and forth would require you to lose your anonymity, even if you do cash trades, the other person would see you and know you and some day you can get caught.

[The Sceptical Chymist]

Of course it's not possible. It's easier to launder money with cash than it is with Bitcoin. With Bitcoin every single transaction is tracked and logged and stored forever. That's not the case with cash.

This right here.  Much easier with cold, hard cash.  But it's definitely not impossible because other folks have mentioned the mixing services and such, and I think converting to some other altcoin on an exchange and then back again is another method.  Harder but not impossible.

[Gleb Gamow]

Money laundering is possible with any currency, electronic or fiat. A public ledger can even be useful for money laundering. It's a perfect proof that a transaction was real. What's not in the ledger though, is the proof that some service was done, or that some goods were exchanged. The blockchain is a great tool for creative accounting...

Gosh, I could sell methods to launder money with BTC!

I just purchased ten thousand and eight copies of a book entitled Methods to Launder Money with Bitcoin.

Full Disclosure: countryfree may or may not be a nym in my control.

[crossabdd]

it could happen. even more easily than by other means. because bitcoin is anonymouse and very easy to carry out financial transactions with bitcoin.

Bitcoin is not anonymous. Even UK treasury in its report even indicated that crypto currencies pose low risk for them regarding money laundering.

http://www.coindesk.com/uk-treasury-digital-currencies-low-money-laundering-risk/

how about bitcoin mixing service like bitmixer, Im sure this srevice will help more people to be anonmous and the transcation willl be hard to track it

[enhu]

It seems like another discussion about how to be anonymous to use bitcoin. As long as you can get online using a random network (like hacking into a WEP wifi network), and you use a device that is obtained without needing your ID (like "borrowing" from a stranger?), then you can be anonymous.

But then, how are you going to change your coin back to fiat is the other issue....

buying from a user and using will surely make some issues. To my knowledge most of the people don't try to get into such stuffs. Eventhough if something is borrowed from a stranger without proper id one can be easily tracked with these days technologies. Blankly we can't say that money laundering not possible. There might be people who has involved in it.

Politicians or business men who wants to go abroad and won't have to bring USD10K would probably be involved.
Probably expats on some 3rd world country wanted to bring their money to safety which they may have gotten it illegally. Corrupt officials are most probably into it.

[Herbert2020]

it could happen. even more easily than by other means. because bitcoin is anonymouse and very easy to carry out financial transactions with bitcoin.

Bitcoin is not anonymous. Even UK treasury in its report even indicated that crypto currencies pose low risk for them regarding money laundering.

http://www.coindesk.com/uk-treasury-digital-currencies-low-money-laundering-risk/

how about bitcoin mixing service like bitmixer, Im sure this srevice will help more people to be anonmous and the transcation willl be hard to track it

exactly this.
there are a lot of ways to cover tracks when it comes to cryptocurrencies. if anybody wants to do that it can become impossible to track the origin of the bitcoin. not only mixers but also exchanging to other cryptos will help.

[SFR10]

Finally a well written article after all and totally agree with the writer, just wished all the media would do as well since every now and then, another crap news appears out of nowhere that BTCitcoin was used in blah blah blah criminal activity with out showing solid evidence just because they think it's not traceable even though is completely the opposite and any criminal trying to use this method, will surely get caught somewhere down the road.

[Kakmakr]

Bitcoin was not designed to be fully anonymous and to circumvent measures to track criminal activities. Liberty Reserve on the other hand, was designed for that purpose and it moved it's operation, when things started to heat up. They were doomed to failure from the start. <Centralization>

Bitcoin still has some anonymity, just as cash have a certain degree of anonymity too. You could still track a lot of movement, if services were targeted with a subpoena to reveal the data. 

[Rescue Squad]

I think you can launder money in bitcoins through the mixing services because noone knows what is coming in and where it goes out.

[Gleb Gamow]

I think you can launder money in bitcoins through the mixing services because noone knows what is coming in and where it goes out.

Overheard at NSA:

Rick: Hey, Joe, how's the bitcoin mixing service goin' we set up?
Joe: Which one?

Overheard at FBI:

Sue: Hey, Bob, did you hear that the NSA may have more than one bitcoin mixing service? How many do we have?
Bob: Sue, first, new recruits are not allowed to ask how many we have, and second, we don't refer to them as mixing services.

[Amph]

Of course it's not possible. It's easier to launder money with cash than it is with Bitcoin. With Bitcoin every single transaction is tracked and logged and stored forever. That's not the case with cash.

yeah sure and how do you know what of those transaction were used to buy drug for example?

you can not, especially if i do not convert in fiat or i don't give any info about me

[arbitrage]

If they want they can get any info about your life.
And if you are involved in bad things it's a matter of time when they will come after you.
Probably you can get their attention with bigger amounts.

[equilibriator]

In concept I think it is possible but barely meaningful, BTC money can be followed for a very prolonged period meaning money can be tracked to the uncleaned money in a public network, anyway there are many money laundering options anyway.

[gregyoung14]

Of course it's not possible. It's easier to launder money with cash than it is with Bitcoin. With Bitcoin every single transaction is tracked and logged and stored forever. That's not the case with cash.

I'm sure. If you would think about it, even if you've successfully worked on it. It wouldn't be easy to get away with it either.

[AGD]

I think you can launder money in bitcoins through the mixing services because noone knows what is coming in and where it goes out.

Overheard at NSA:

Rick: Hey, Joe, how's the bitcoin mixing service goin' we set up?
Joe: Which one?

Overheard at FBI:

Sue: Hey, Bob, did you hear that the NSA may have more than one bitcoin mixing service? How many do we have?
Bob: Sue, first, new recruits are not allowed to ask how many we have, and second, we don't refer to them as mixing services.

+1

[erikalui]

Liberty Reserve owner was himself involved in the fraudulent activities and hence the website was shut down and funds were seized. I lost my money even though I was not using my money in a wrong way. With bitcoins as well, it is possible that other users must be using their money for illegal activities and hence money laundering is definitely possible. It's not completely anonymous and if the wallets are banned by the Government, we would lose access to our money as well.