As Altcoin Popularity Grows So Does Crime; Is Regulation Keeping Up?

[Kemarit]

As per the article:

Those knowledgeable about crypto markets point to Monero, Dash and Zcash as the shadiest digital currencies.

It doesn't mean if you used those coins you have something shady to hide. Maybe you just like to keep more private in hiding your money/invested that's why you prefer to used those "privacy coins". But I'm sure that small percentage of criminals are really using crypto, to masked and hid their wealth. As for regulations? well most countries has already put a tighter grip, KYC is already required so I don't know what more can they ask for us. And I think authorities are really upgrading their system as well, (https://www.ccn.com/busted-britain-confiscates-700000-in-bitcoin-from-hacker/). So it looks like they are gaining some grounds on this criminals or hackers taking advantage of crypto's pseudo-anonymous or privacy feature.

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[dothebeats]

Personally I think regulations are lagging behind given that most countries are only limited to KYC and AML regulations which isn"t enough to scare criminals on doing nefarious acts. Cryptospace is still a safe haven for money launderers because they know that it's easy to toss money here and there without being noticed and alerting anyone. If there'd be more strict yet fair regulations in crypto, the number of these criminals might diminish, and could potentially be a reason for people to come and try crypto for themselves.

[dupee419]

In my own opinion alts have grown and crime also grows too, I think they need to settle on the security of alts, since you can hide and become anonymous this can be a big advantage for criminals, they can make transactions without getting traced and it can be bad for the wealth of these coins.

[amishmanish]

these three as well as others are being used by criminals to transact purchases or sales of such things as narcotics, illegal firearms, terrorist payments and other crimes-for-hire.

The nexus of narcotics, firearms and terrorist payments doesn't begin or end with the people dealing with it. It ruins lives where it begins. The so-called 'customers' for some of tbe worst stuff out there are people living in ddveloped countries.
The ones who get victimized are the faceless who have nobody to fight for them. Till now, it was easy for law-enforcement to claim victory by "freezing accounts" without even bothering too much about what goes underneath. Atleast, the anonymity of crypto will force their hands to actually tackle the issues that lie underneath.

Bombing other countries indiscriminately to maintain status quo in geopolitics is one of the main reasons behind terrorism.

Abetting illegal narcotic activity in places like Afghanistan and South America are reasons for the drugs problem.

Letting the millitary-industrial complex run amok with profit motive is the reason for proliferation of illegal arms in the street.

Let them deal with these instead of finding the easy way out with the "paper trail".

[justdimin]

Well, this is one of the reasons why we are starting to see some level of attack on anonymous cryptocurrency such as monero, zcash and co. With regulations, I am sure it is going to be easy for the government to lay an attack on coins that are in this category by making sure they are delisted from any exchanges operating in their country.

Take a look at what Japan is doing right now; I guess that gives a clue what it is going to be like in the long run with regulation. Cryptocurrencies are going to stay with us for sure. These need of regulations or not may be decided after experiencing the consequences first.

[aoluain]

Regulations are not going to stop criminals from using crypto. Law enforcement
globally has failed to stop criminal activity as it is. Incarceration for example is
generally speaking is not a deterrent ans nearly all high level criminals can run
their operations from prison.

Most law abiding users are going to be affected more by regulation than high level
criminals who know how to get around any regulations ... Just as they do now

[BillCoin]

Greedy and evil people will always use something good to support their crimes, Altcoin is a good thing, many people earn money honestly and honorably by using altcoin, I think altcoin will continue to grow and there will be regulations governing altcoin.

Not only evil people.
Bitcoin is being used for the money-laundering industry, people who hides from the government in the money section will find bitcoin as a safe haven, not necessarily being used for committing crimes.
Some countries can't have any access to cryptocurrency and most of them can only use bitcoin in order to make money transfers.
Ofcourse the more people uses bitcoin for committing crimes, the chances of regulators to go against the network is higher.

[Maestro75]

I have noticed that too but we can't really put the blame on the growth of altcoins. It is just that crime and the criminals found another line of scamming people in altcoins or bitcoin. We have to remember that in general crime is ever increasing. A fee minutes ago, I read about a poster who lost 13btc to scammers because he wanted to claim a fork coin. Here is the thread https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=3490317.msg37379153#msg37379153

[FlightyPouch]

Greedy and evil people will always use something good to support their crimes, Altcoin is a good thing, many people earn money honestly and honorably by using altcoin, I think altcoin will continue to grow and there will be regulations governing altcoin.

Altcoin are not really aimed to make people have a source of income. Altcoin are made for some purposes and that is also the full anonimity that Bitcoin don't have. If criminals are using it as a way of transactions, I guess we can't really blame the crypto currency since one of its greatest feature is its financial freedom, a way for us to have a private transactions.

[Altas]

That's not the truth, because popularity of altcoins keeps on increasing with time to time as more and more people were getting aware about cryptocurrency. When it comes to crime, it is happening long back even when people doesn't have any idea about cryptocurrency and even before its existence. Even with regulations crimes can't be kept under control. I think the crimes happening around were correlated with the rising popularity of cryptocurrency.

[ene1980]

The crime rate is actually increasing and many scammers are seeing cryptocurrencies as a safe heaven for they criminal activity.  I think regulatory authority in various country needs to come into this market especially the icos market and put they eye on most of this scam projects and keep the market clean for the right investors.

The scammers are targeting the ICO market and it will change in the future with strict regulation and i expect that to happen in the next few years, Monero is used primarily used in the darkweb, i would like to see the positive things rather than the negative things in the market.

[jimmybush07702]

By and by I think directions are lingering behind given that most nations are just restricted to KYC and AML controls which isnt enough to terrify offenders on doing detestable acts. Cryptospace is as yet a place of refuge for tax criminals since they realize that it's anything but difficult to hurl cash all over without being seen and alarming anybody.

[BartS]

Here's a nice read on the growth of cryptocurrency vis-a-vis the attacks that seem to hinder it also:

"Since they first hit financial markets, and moreso as their popularity expands, cryptocurrencies—specifically the decentralized digital technology that underlies alt-currencies—have also been a lure for individuals looking for an efficient way to hide their identities, activities and illegal financial transactions. Even as the number and types of tokens proliferate, certain alt-currencies have also become the aiders and abbetors of criminal activity, darkside coins if you will."


Read the rest of the writeup here: https://www.investing.com/analysis/as-cryptocurrencies-proliferate-so-do-certain-criminal-activities-200302190

This is more of the same, like always the media is trying to make it seem like the only persons that use cryptocurrencies are criminals and nothing more, while there is no doubt that there is criminal activity in cryptocurrencies, this is nothing to be surprised about, there is a big amount of criminal activity in regular currencies as well and there is no one claiming that we should ban those currencies just because criminals have found a way to take advantage of it, so that is a very weak argument to try to say that cryptocurrencies need a heavy regulation.

[Altero]

The used of cryptocurrencies for criminal activities are getting high due to it's anonymity, but we can't make a way to stop them considering that they are also a big users for these. In a way that crypto will be regulated by the government and wiping out it's anonymity of the person involved, it may helps to avoid from using it for such activities.

[omitusaf]

This is something natural. The regulators have been trying to do this but crypto investors fuss over this, getting afraid and cashin out their holdings.
Illegal activities are inevitable. It happens everywhere. More innovations lead to more challenges that need to be solved. Let the regulators do their jobs.

[faceoff97]

Scams are continuously growing simply because alternative coin allows scammers to easily attract people to invest on something that seems to be promising but just like any other ponzi schemes. I think it would be better of regulations should be really done. Making alternative coin is so easy that anyone can make it, there should be standard and requirements to be followed when starting one.

[BartS]

The used of cryptocurrencies for criminal activities are getting high due to it's anonymity, but we can't make a way to stop them considering that they are also a big users for these. In a way that crypto will be regulated by the government and wiping out it's anonymity of the person involved, it may helps to avoid from using it for such activities.

In fact I think it is the opposite, it is true that of the beginning of the life of bitcoin a big amount of the transactions were because of criminal activities, but as bitcoin has gotten more popular most transactions are now legal, most people are just buying and selling bitcoin in exchanges in order to try to make money legally, it is obvious that there is going to be criminal activities in bitcoin there is not currency that is completely clean and that has no criminals using that currency for their benefit, just look at the US dollar, the currency of choice of criminals.

[khaled0111]

You have to blame criminals not the technology.
Humans are greedy and can do anything to have more money.
The problem with cryptocurrency is that it makes hiding criminals tracks easier especially when the criminal knows what he is doing.
I don't think that regulation or strict laws will stop people from making crimes, they will always find a way circumvent those laws

[pitiflin]

Governments are only focusing on "regulating bitcoin" at the moment. Although they are trying real hard to regulate exchanges and all that stuff,illegal activities are still being easily processed because of how easily the transactions are being manipulated. Mixers and exchanges make it even harder to track. Crime exists where money humans exist.

You have to blame criminals not the technology.
Humans are greedy and can do anything to have more money.
The problem with cryptocurrency is that it makes hiding criminals tracks easier especially when the criminal knows what he is doing.
I don't think that regulation or strict laws will stop people from making crimes, they will always find a way circumvent those laws

Finally. Someone using their brains here.

[Leyss]

I do not think that crime will increase greatly due to the growing number of altcoyns and their growing use by citizens. In any case, this is a problem of law enforcement agencies. They must look for new ways to deal with this problem. Crime is always a step ahead of law enforcement agencies in this regard, but in the end such a problem has always been solved positively. So it will be in this case.