Is bitcoin used by criminals ?

[webdevmastery]

it will come down to how much.

bitcoin is a currency and like any other currencies like USD,... it is used for a wide variety of reasons by different types of people. if 90% of the usage were for illegal activities then talking about it was justified. but the usage of bitcoin for anything illegal is less than 5% and possibly now it is near 0% because of the fees.

at some point in the past it may have been different though. by the time bitcoin was new and people didn't know that bitcoin is not anonymous and also by the time the real anon coins like Monero were not around or popular. now everyone who wants to do something illegal and remain anonymous either uses USD cash or uses anon coins like Monero.

I agree to that, Most of the people are really striving to earn bitcoins because of its inevitable value that keeps on increasing in the market. Most of the investors are holding their coins till the value increases at their desired price, Everyone is doing the same thing so it is not impossible for criminals to use bitcoins as well.

[CyNotes]

I once read an article that says bitcoin is used as a payment transaction for terrorists and hackers. And maybe you guys in this forum also already know it. But here i want to convey my personal opinion in that matter. I think that internet and bitcoin interrelated. Many terrorists and criminals use internet.begitu also with bitcoin which also used perpetrator However, despite all these issues, do people make concrete efforts to ban the internet? No. Not because removing and banning Bitcoin is difficult, but because the internet offers more positive than negative. For the same reason, we have to be more careful about our mindset for Bitcoin, because much evidence has shown that Bitcoin brings many positive, if not more, effects than the internet. Internet and Bitcoin are just devices that 'bad guys' and 'good people'. Fortunately, the world is filled with more people in the 'good people' category.

There have been a lot of instances wherein Bitcoins were used for Frauds etc. You can actually check the Scam Accusations and Reputation section of this forum to see the ways of how they utilize cryptocurrency to get money. Since Bitcoin transactions is irreversible, it's easy for them to get the money and just run away. There is no way for governments to go after the criminal since it's not yet regulated in some countries.

It can be used by an ordinary people,  criminals or any society you had. We can get money easily using bitcoin what more the hackers and criminals can be programmed such algorithms. For me, it is easy to get money from other people without notifying them.

[bitcoi]

Some people say that bitcoin is mostly used by terrorists and criminals, but this society misconception is further from the truth. The reason is because many people think Bitcoin is anonymous but the truth is that all bitcoin transactions are stored publicly and permanently on the network and anyone can see the balance and transactions of any Bitcoin address. If bitcoin is very transparent it doesn’t mean that criminals don’t use bitcoin for thier illegal activities.

[jafurih]

Bitcoin is transparent and decentralized currency.criminals also use the bitcoin for their transactions.bitcoin transaction can make with anonymous names,they can make crime.

[Tavarez]

the answer is YES, because they partially can hide their identity and suspicious operations. They don't have to pay taxes and can make transactions from their own homes (no banks, no ID's). It is well known that terrorists use crypto to organize their network and get drugs and guns. Just like a fiat money bad folks find a way to misuse the crypto.

[pixie85]

Bitcoin is transparent and decentralized currency.criminals also use the bitcoin for their transactions.bitcoin transaction can make with anonymous names,they can make crime.

Maybe they "can make crime" but you can't write and are spamming nonsense.

the answer is YES, because they partially can hide their identity and suspicious operations. They don't have to pay taxes and can make transactions from their own homes (no banks, no ID's). It is well known that terrorists use crypto to organize their network and get drugs and guns. Just like a fiat money bad folks find a way to misuse the crypto.

All of us can stop paying taxes and it won't make us criminals. You'd be surprised how many criminals do pay taxes and run legit operations on the side.
Well known? Are you talking about ISIS? They are overrated and lost most of the influence in their homeland. You're spreading rumors.

[PeRo]

Well, Bitcoin is the best solution for criminals to bypass the police tracking the transactions and finding out who got and who sent the money. I really could not name a better solution. But I do not think that it is bad for Bitcoin because criminals also use cash and that does not seem to be a too big of a deal for people, they do not see that Bitcoin is a currency like any other.

[LuffyD.Monkey]

Yes, they are highly used by criminals because of its feature which is the anonymity in transaction were people on both ends can conceal their identity which is very attractive in the eyes of criminals.

Bitcoin is not anonymous. It's traceable and all your transactions are kept forever in the blockchain. They can be backtracked to you many years years from now. Cash can't.

Definitely yes, since bitcoin will not ask your personal identification.
Maybe soon the government will have regulation in transferring big amount money from cryptocurrency.

Bitcoin doesn't ask, but the exchanges do. Same thing with online stores, they will also ask for your name and address. It's naive to think that BTC is the currency of choice for everything illegal because it's anonymous and untraceable.

It is not only Bitcoin but all the currencies whether they are in digital form or physical are being used by criminals for their Evil purposes since the beginning of the world.

Now that Bitcoin gives anonymity and it is difficult to track the transactions or discovered the owner, the use of Bitcoin by criminals should not shock anyone. This is a fact that crypto currencies are being used in the Deep and dark web. Silk Road is full of such examples.

[Hellobx]

I once read an article that says bitcoin is used as a payment transaction for terrorists and hackers. And maybe you guys in this forum also already know it. But here i want to convey my personal opinion in that matter. I think that internet and bitcoin interrelated. Many terrorists and criminals use internet .so also with bitcoin which used perpetrator However, despite all these issues, do people make concrete efforts to ban the internet? No. Not because removing and banning Bitcoin is difficult, but because the internet offers more positive than negative. For the same reason, we have to be more careful about our mindset for Bitcoin, because much evidence has shown that Bitcoin brings many positive, if not more, effects than the internet. Internet and Bitcoin are just devices that 'bad guys' and 'good people'. Fortunately, the world is filled with more people in the 'good people' category.

I don't think so, because there are more anonymous tokens now, so crime can be replaced by anonymous tokens instead of bitcoins.

[iagyei259]

Yes they can use to facilitate illegal transactions. Look at the situation, arms sellers in Russia or any country where arms are sold illegall want to get paid and avoid government and banks, bitcoins can be used to help transmit the money.

[Puroc]

bitcoin can be use by everyone, educated or no, student/employed/unemployed,,,,,, of course if a criminal can use bitcoin to their activities like using it as payment, their nothing we could do about it, Im not saying that bitcoin is made in such a purpose but people grab every oppurunity to do what they likes...

[Akitot]

some people is accepting also bitcoin as payment of registration and membership on pornsite,
I just tap my head when I've read this article,,,
This people is just-----so-------bad.

[Chakitot]

since bitcoin is untreable and undetictable because this money (likely currency) is done and trasact online they will be hardly caught by the authority, mostly criminals and bad indivual use this on their interests..

[bryant.coleman]

the answer is YES, because they partially can hide their identity and suspicious operations. They don't have to pay taxes and can make transactions from their own homes (no banks, no ID's). It is well known that terrorists use crypto to organize their network and get drugs and guns. Just like a fiat money bad folks find a way to misuse the crypto.

They can only partially hide their identity. There is no solid guarantee about it. For example, the cops in Denmark arrested some drug dealers a few months back, after tracing their Bitcoin transactions. So the risk is always there with BTC. Perhaps that is the reason why the dark markets are shifting to other currencies such as Zcash, Verge and Monero.

[cybersofts]

Bitcoin is a digital currency to be used by everyone, businessmen, scientist, engineers, doctors, programmers, and even the greedy politicians (criminals). Yes, the politicians are the real criminals because they are always supporting things in their favor not their people, and the people that are called criminals are very selfish that is why they are criminals. so what is the difference? they are all criminals, indeed!

[jojowar]

Yes bitcoin was used by criminals. Even in investing, some of the campaigns were used by scammers/criminals to get the capital of the investors by creating fraud campaign.

[sino22]

Yes bitcoin was used by criminals. Even in investing, some of the campaigns were used by scammers/criminals to get the capital of the investors by creating fraud campaign.

not all bitcoin users are criminals, some are honest and some are dishonest, because it all depends on the person who is joining the bitcoin. bitcoin that many use it as well, we also do not know, who is impersonated in using bitcoin.

[mickeybuddy27]

Naturally, in the underworld, bitcoin is used because of its anonymity, but it does not make bitcoin a bad currency, and the speech that it is used ONLY in crime is spread by the government in order to have an excuse  their attempts to adjust this currency

Bitcoin is not bad currency, the way of using it by the user will be. Using bitcoin in transacting illegally was hard to track which push to government to ban bitcoin from their country to reduce the rate of criminality.

[Mumbeeptind1963]

Naturally, in the underworld, bitcoin is used because of its anonymity, but it does not make bitcoin a bad currency, and the speech that it is used ONLY in crime is spread by the government in order to have an excuse  their attempts to adjust this currency

Yes it can use by criminality because of its anonymity of bitcoin, that's way some government ban bitcoin in their country because they think bitcoin is can harm to their people, but they didn't know what can bitcoin do if they trust and try to use of their peoole.

[Ronaldcoin2017]

Naturally, in the underworld, bitcoin is used because of its anonymity, but it does not make bitcoin a bad currency, and the speech that it is used ONLY in crime is spread by the government in order to have an excuse  their attempts to adjust this currency

Bitcoin is not bad currency, the way of using it by the user will be. Using bitcoin in transacting illegally was hard to track which push to government to ban bitcoin from their country to reduce the rate of criminality.

Well bitcoin is for everyone  i believe that bitcoin cna also be use d by criminals in crime because bitcoin is for all who wanted to used it .But it is not a  bad coin bitcoin is only depending on a person who use it or maybe in what kind of porpuse they do upon using bitcoin. The important thing there is that we know that bitcoin is really not that bad even if criminals will also used it but it is  not about bitcoin is it about how  people use it.