Crime funded by bitcoin

[mk4]

Since Bitcoin was ever released, I've thought of the possibility of this. Will crimes be easily funded now due to bitcoin and it's anonymity? How do you think the authorities will combat this? Will this lead to a decline in the price of bitcoin? I've had this on my mind for a while now and I would like to hear your guys opinions.

Yes it is possible, and it will be quite easier for them. But honestly, people shouldn't blame bitcoin because funding of crimes has been around since forever anyway. So, bitcoin or without bitcoin, funding of crimes will still be a thing.

[Nevis]

Its already happening in other country OP,there are alot of country that is funding crimes and drugs using bitcoins and i think some altcoins too.So no doubt about it that bitcoins can fund crimes and other illegal stuffs

[DoublerHunter]

Its already happening in other country OP,there are alot of country that is funding crimes and drugs using bitcoins and i think some altcoins too.So no doubt about it that bitcoins can fund crimes and other illegal stuffs

Bitcoin is not the only thing that can fund crimes because their national currency can be also used in this kind of things because in fact, bitcoin is just like a proxy for them to not be located or track down but in the past few years or decades illegal stuffs, drugs are already funded by the original money and bitcoin is just like used because of its advanced features.

[ubitcoin]

it's not necessary and crime has and will be funded with every currency in the world, USD and EUR aren't exceptions and the anonymity of BTC is a myth since everything is in the blockchain and public, unlike Bank transactions that are more anonymous (since only a judge order can give you access to these).

That is one of the important features why Terrorists and other illegal groups use BTC and some other crypto currencies to their advantage and hide their transactions from the legal authorities. I have heard some of the black money holders in my country use BTC to hide their money.

Well that honestly isn't very smart.  If they post their wallet address in order to receive donations, or if it gets known to authorities in your country in some kind of way, then they literally can see how much Bitcoin that wallet has.  Plus authorities will also be able to view where those Bitcoins came from and where they will go to from that wallet and so on through blockchain analysis.

Yes I think every country will have its intelligence agencies where the data of the concerned wallet could be traced with no hurdles. In the end bitcoin data goes to the bank where the local currency is withdrawal from the account mentioned by the wallet so this is not really a hard task for any country I guess.

[abel1337]

it's not necessary and crime has and will be funded with every currency in the world, USD and EUR aren't exceptions and the anonymity of BTC is a myth since everything is in the blockchain and public, unlike Bank transactions that are more anonymous (since only a judge order can give you access to these).

That is one of the important features why Terrorists and other illegal groups use BTC and some other crypto currencies to their advantage and hide their transactions from the legal authorities. I have heard some of the black money holders in my country use BTC to hide their money.

Well that honestly isn't very smart.  If they post their wallet address in order to receive donations, or if it gets known to authorities in your country in some kind of way, then they literally can see how much Bitcoin that wallet has.  Plus authorities will also be able to view where those Bitcoins came from and where they will go to from that wallet and so on through blockchain analysis.

Yes I think every country will have its intelligence agencies where the data of the concerned wallet could be traced with no hurdles. In the end bitcoin data goes to the bank where the local currency is withdrawal from the account mentioned by the wallet so this is not really a hard task for any country I guess.

I am thinking of that too , Many intelligence agencies will surely do that because bitcoin is becoming famous in every places now and we know that bitcoin is the most anonymous way of receiving money from a crime that has to be committed. In the future bitcoin can possibly aint anonymous for some wallets I think because some wallets will require Identification of the owner like now one of the wallet Im using is coins.ph and it is asking me a ID which I will give to access the full features of the wallet.

[Rishabh riyz]

Many people commit crimes by using transactions through their bitcoin goals to be difficult to trace and facilitate transactions, It makes the government difficult to formalize bitcoin because easily the crime can do a transaction but I am sure the authorities will not take silence they must have a plan to deal with all this.

Many people !, No that's absolutely wrong bro
See bitcoins can be used to fund crimes as no evidence would be present of transaction,
All we would be able to see is a wallet address and that would also be changed after the transaction automatically
People also use btc to transfer and hide their blackmoney
And by the way I don't think that the drug dealers and other criminals would go into online digital crypto currency instead they would go into old fashioned face to face transactions
We can't sblame bitcoins for these promotion of illegal things as they were there before bitcoins where even started
One of the advantages of Bitcoin is that we don't have to show our identity for any transaction, this advantage is used by them to buy drugs, weapons and fund terrorism

[OliynyK]

Many people commit crimes by using transactions through their bitcoin goals to be difficult to trace and facilitate transactions, It makes the government difficult to formalize bitcoin because easily the crime can do a transaction but I am sure the authorities will not take silence they must have a plan to deal with all this.

It is not that difficult to trace those transactions,if there is any investigation against any user then nothing can do to save him,there are several examples where people have being caught and their bitcoins confiscated doing illegal things. So you cannot hide from the law if you are a criminal.

[kpcian]

It can be happened in every currency, not only Bitcoin Every currencies are involved in the crime. It depends on how people want to use, currency can be controlled by using in crime, so it can be tracked down that how many transaction are using in the illegal activities. That is not a big deal...

[bamboylee]

It can be happened in every currency, not only Bitcoin Every currencies are involved in the crime. It depends on how people want to use, currency can be controlled by using in crime, so it can be tracked down that how many transaction are using in the illegal activities. That is not a big deal...

Right, they do not have to single out bitcoin. Cash is even easier to  use for illegal activities. There is no trace for cash and readily spendable. While bitcoin have a public ledger. Authorities just have to watch the bitcoin address and they can track the criminals.

[bitcoindusts]

As long as an item can be exchange to cash, they will use it to fund crimes.  Bitcoin is not the only one being used.  Though due to the popularity of Bitcoin news seems to like their reporting sensationalized to tap the senses of human.  Who will get interested if an article reported a case where an unknown medium is used.  Probably no one.

[goinmerry]

It can be happened in every currency, not only Bitcoin Every currencies are involved in the crime. It depends on how people want to use, currency can be controlled by using in crime, so it can be tracked down that how many transaction are using in the illegal activities. That is not a big deal...

Right, they do not have to single out bitcoin. Cash is even easier to  use for illegal activities. There is no trace for cash and readily spendable. While bitcoin have a public ledger. Authorities just have to watch the bitcoin address and they can track the criminals.

And I think it more hassle to use bitcoin than cash when using for those illegitimate activities unless the person involved really want to pursue their fundings thru bitcoine. Bitcoin exchanges also have some limits and in order to increase their limits they have to send verification which I doubt a criminal will do.

To summarize this, crime, illegal activities and all other related scheme is prone by bitcoin. As long as it has some value no way we can avoid it.

[richsoon]

It can be happened in every currency, not only Bitcoin Every currencies are involved in the crime. It depends on how people want to use, currency can be controlled by using in crime, so it can be tracked down that how many transaction are using in the illegal activities. That is not a big deal...

Right, they do not have to single out bitcoin. Cash is even easier to  use for illegal activities. There is no trace for cash and readily spendable. While bitcoin have a public ledger. Authorities just have to watch the bitcoin address and they can track the criminals.

The difference is that its very hard to use millions of dollars in cash but with bitcoin you can move huge funds around and bitcoin mixers make it virtually untraceable.

At the end of the day though its sort of a feature and not a bug of the protocol.

[danherbias07]

Why not? It is a valuable thing.
Same with how they used gold, diamonds and USD itself.
This guys who are rhe crimelords, they also want their trades with something that can be used for a long time or could be preserved.
I dont agree with this but since bitcoin is in a hell of a price it will be somehow in the eyes of those illegal traders.
This is not new though. If they are not using it now, they will somehow find it.

[bitbunnny]

It can be happened in every currency, not only Bitcoin Every currencies are involved in the crime. It depends on how people want to use, currency can be controlled by using in crime, so it can be tracked down that how many transaction are using in the illegal activities. That is not a big deal...

Right, they do not have to single out bitcoin. Cash is even easier to  use for illegal activities. There is no trace for cash and readily spendable. While bitcoin have a public ledger. Authorities just have to watch the bitcoin address and they can track the criminals.

The difference is that its very hard to use millions of dollars in cash but with bitcoin you can move huge funds around and bitcoin mixers make it virtually untraceable.

At the end of the day though its sort of a feature and not a bug of the protocol.

That is very true, Bitcoin is much more flexible and easier to transfer than fiat money. Controls are not so big or even none and as long as you don't try to exchange the coins into fiat you are safe. And not less important Bitcoin is much more anonimous than fiat money which is also great advantage for criminal activities.

[Siren]

It can be happened in every currency, not only Bitcoin Every currencies are involved in the crime. It depends on how people want to use, currency can be controlled by using in crime, so it can be tracked down that how many transaction are using in the illegal activities. That is not a big deal...

Right, they do not have to single out bitcoin. Cash is even easier to  use for illegal activities. There is no trace for cash and readily spendable. While bitcoin have a public ledger. Authorities just have to watch the bitcoin address and they can track the criminals.

The difference is that its very hard to use millions of dollars in cash but with bitcoin you can move huge funds around and bitcoin mixers make it virtually untraceable.

At the end of the day though its sort of a feature and not a bug of the protocol.

That is very true, Bitcoin is much more flexible and easier to transfer than fiat money. Controls are not so big or even none and as long as you don't try to exchange the coins into fiat you are safe. And not less important Bitcoin is much more anonimous than fiat money which is also great advantage for criminal activities.

I think criminals will still find a way to change their bitcoin to fiat. They will move huge amounts of bitcoin user mixers and used fake identities to cash it out. However, whether its fiat or bitcoin, criminals or illegal activities will continue to be committed globally so don't put all the blame on bitcoin.

[haroldtee]

We are on the same page. There are multiple aspects of this topic and the most dangerous I see is the direct attack on the goodwill of the bitcoin. Well, criminals use the currency whichever is convient to them and this time if it's bitcoin then what is the bitcoin's fault in it? Govenments and other international organisations might object the legalisation of bitcoin on this issue in my opinion.

I absolutely agree with you. I don't know why people will keep trying to tarnish the image of bitcoin by associating it everytime with fraudulent activities as if that was the basis of the innovation or as if crime wasn't existing before bitcoin even sufficed. It is a appalling!

[HaXX0R1337]

Its already happening in other country OP,there are alot of country that is funding crimes and drugs using bitcoins and i think some altcoins too.So no doubt about it that bitcoins can fund crimes and other illegal stuffs

If the authorities find that there is something illegal being done with the transaction of funds ,i am sure they could track you down and will make you suffer for the crimes you have done,the notion of funding crimes and drugs using bitcoin is just a big myth,feel like laughing when the drug lords waiting for the confirmation for about an hour for the dope they sold and if i give a smaller transaction fee then i have to stay with him for quarter of a day.

[Omega Weapon]

Crime can be funded with anything: from cash,gold,silver to bitcoin. So all these methods can be hardly traced,not only bitcoin. I don't see any major reason why bitcoin price would decrease if it is used in crimes. Most surely us dollars are used in crimes daily and the price doesn't fall right? 

You are right, There is no sense when we said that bitcoin price would decrease because if it is used in crimes. Because peoples can use dollars or any real or digital currency for this things.
Maybe bitcoin is most used for crimes, because it's more secure and anonymous. It used in darknet too. So killers would sure want to use it than other any currencies.

It is very difficult to know the amount of money some criminals move in bitcoin, but I suppose that back in the day when bitcoin was just starting the percentage of most of the trading taking place  was mostly illegal transactions but as bitcoin has become known for more people then the percentage of these transactions has diminished because there is more people doing legal trades in bitcoin.     

[mrcash02]

Crime can be funded with anything: from cash,gold,silver to bitcoin. So all these methods can be hardly traced,not only bitcoin. I don't see any major reason why bitcoin price would decrease if it is used in crimes. Most surely us dollars are used in crimes daily and the price doesn't fall right? 

You are right, There is no sense when we said that bitcoin price would decrease because if it is used in crimes. Because peoples can use dollars or any real or digital currency for this things.
Maybe bitcoin is most used for crimes, because it's more secure and anonymous. It used in darknet too. So killers would sure want to use it than other any currencies.

It is very difficult to know the amount of money some criminals move in bitcoin, but I suppose that back in the day when bitcoin was just starting the percentage of most of the trading taking place  was mostly illegal transactions but as bitcoin has become known for more people then the percentage of these transactions has diminished because there is more people doing legal trades in bitcoin.     

I think legal trades don't decrease the amount of illegal trades. Surely the number of legal trades increased a lot, but illegal trades increased as well. Bitcoin has the price it has today not only by the good people, but because the dark market over it too, we need to be aware about it.

Bitcoin is used by the good and by the evil like fiat and like any other tradeable item. We just need to make sure we are using it for the good, otherwise there could be problems with authorities in real life.

[Makka]

It just so happened that bitcoin is also used in funding some illegal transactions, paid to people who commit crimes. But it is also the case of the rest of the fiat currencies that we know. Crimes are everywhere, paid in all forms. It is not the money that is to be blamed. Money is there as a neutral invention. It can also be used for good things. Bitcoin is the same.