[2018-07-05] Bitcoin’s Next Big Battle: Restoring its Reputation

[Jgilpulg]

A study shows that less than one percent of Bitcoin transactions have been used for illicit activities. However, Bitcoin’s unwarranted shady reputation has hindered its rate of adoption and chased away big money investors.

https://bitcoinist.com/bitcoins-next-big-battle-restoring-its-reputation/

[Harlot]

I don't think that it is the main reason why big money investors is not coming in to Bitcoin because of its reputation when it comes to being a dark web money but Bitcoin failing to have full legal recognition right now its full legal identity is still in question. Investors won't be putting their money on assets that have the chance to be illegal anytime which means that its price will get affected really fast and the investor's money will be putting itself at risk.

[stomachgrowls]

I don't think that it is the main reason why big money investors is not coming in to Bitcoin because of its reputatiom when it comes to being a dark web money but Bitcoin failing to have full legal recognition right now its full legal identoty is still in question. Investors won't be putting their money on assets that have the chance to be illegal anytime which means that its price will get affected really fast and the investor's money will be putting itself at risk.

+1

Even now we are currently seeing funds being taken out on traditional investment- Stocks  where these things are somehow legalized and with do have proper back up. When it comes to bitcoin reputation theres no doubt that traditional investors would most likely to check out its security and legality because even myself wouldn't entrust out fully my funds into things aren't insured.
So I don't see a reason for bitcoin to restore its reputation because this is just being used up by people and the ones who would need to be blamed are those who use it on illegal way but well we know the best feature of btc is on its anonymity.

[Slow death]

I do not know who did this study, since I did not waste my time clicking on the link, I did not waste my time clicking on the link because just read this:

However, Bitcoin’s unwarranted shady reputation has hindered its rate of adoption and chased away big money investors.

to realize that the person should not have done research. big investors are waiting for regulation to be able to invest, they can not invest without clear regulation. Imagine a large company investing in bitcoin in a country where they are constantly talking about "ban". nobody would invest in bitcoin knowing that the government has plans to "ban". if you have clear regulations, then we will have the "big investors"

[hatshepsut93]

I think only people who are very unfamiliar with Bitcoin or those who are extremely prejudiced are viewing Bitcoin as money for illegal trades. This is because those who are at least a bit familiar with Bitcoin got their information from some videos, articles or from their friends, and so far I haven't seen any media that describe Bitcoin as criminal money, it's more common to hear that it's a bubble and fad. So, there's no big need to save Bitcoin's reputation, it will all get fixed by itself eventually when the technology and the market will get more mature.

[prehisto]

I don't think that it is the main reason why big money investors is not coming in to Bitcoin because of its reputatiom when it comes to being a dark web money but Bitcoin failing to have full legal recognition right now its full legal identoty is still in question. Investors won't be putting their money on assets that have the chance to be illegal anytime which means that its price will get affected really fast and the investor's money will be putting itself at risk.

+1

Even now we are currently seeing funds being taken out on traditional investment- Stocks  where these things are somehow legalized and with do have proper back up. When it comes to bitcoin reputation theres no doubt that traditional investors would most likely to check out its security and legality because even myself wouldn't entrust out fully my funds into things aren't insured.
So I don't see a reason for bitcoin to restore its reputation because this is just being used up by people and the ones who would need to be blamed are those who use it on illegal way but well we know the best feature of btc is on its anonymity.

I would disagree with you on the best thing of btc being anonymity . In my mind the best feature is that it has no borders and it is easy to use with small fees and fast transactions. Try to conduct business over continents, there are not too much ways do it. If you are small man you will use PayPal which is just shit ( excuse my french) with high fees and often very difficult procedures.

Regarding reputation, i dont think that there is something to restore. People just has to become more educated and with this the reputation will get better.

[Kakmakr]

How many people stopped trading on fiat foreign exchange markets because these currencies are still used the most to buy drugs on the street and to pay for prostitutes and black market items. 

This so-called reputation that Bitcoin has, is a joke. Bitcoin got this reputation because of "Silkroad" and it was blown out of proportion by the media and Hollywood movie studios, because it was sensational material. 

There are more people using Bitcoin for legal purposes every day, than people that are using it to pay for illicit activities. Most of these people are using privacy focused coins like, Dash and Monero now. 

[1Referee]

Rehash Corporation is doing its thing again.

Big investors aren't using exchanges anymore, they are out of the picture; they solely rely on OTC markets to actually get the volumes and liquidity that they need, and more importantly, they aren't subject to crippled and scummy exchanges anymore, which is a major win for them. No one in his right mind other than the existing whales will stack up millions and millions worth of assets on an exchange that even we as hardcore Bitcoiners don't trust. I can't blame them for that.

Why can't a basic level study come to that same conclusion?

Mainstream adoption is a bitch, blegh......

[buwaytress]

Reputation is a funny thing, you know. Ask in this forum and you'd get quite a bit of breadth in responses about what they think of Bitcoin, but perhaps not of the variety discussed in the paper. That notion of Bitcoin being the bad boy choice currency for bad people practically doesn't exist in the Bitcoin community itself.

In which case, there is no reputation to restore

Paper should have talked about the reputation that Bitcoin sought out, at least as derived from the white paper. It wanted to be a p2p currency. Almost every screaming speculator here sees it as little more than an investment aaset, to be liquidated as soon as an opportunity comes along.

The headlines now aren't about Bitcoin and drugs. They're about Wall Street and futures, regulations and rules, and corporations and states accepting Bitcoin.

There is a battle for reputation, for sure. But what kind of reputation are we fighting for?

[MoonJeina]

There are so many reasons why bitcoin is wrongly interpreted by many people .
Firstly , the government makes it a big issue because obviously government don't see any benefit coming to themselves .
Many advertisements also makes it worse which literally scares people from investing or trading in bitcoin . The "darkweb" has further worsen its reputation . The ony solution here is an awareness.

[orions.belt19]

It’s going to be hard to shake away this kind of association and reputation while there is still no mass adoption for it. People will continue to view bitcoin as shady even if only 1% of btc transactions has been involved with illicit activities. Come to think of it, there are many other forms of investment that are involved with illegal and illicit activities yet people use it more because it is accepted by society. We will yet see big investors coming in once bitcoin has been formally recognized, and reputation will have nothing to do with it.

[Harlot]

Let us think of another thing mode for transaction related to criminal activities. We all know what Swiss Banks are for? A lot of politicians have offshore accounts and they are using it for laundering money, tax evasion, and simply manipulating what money they really have yet are this Offshore Banks being shut down? Of course not, as even this politicians are benefiting for such business. What I am trying to say reputation is really not one thing to focus on Bitcoin as of the moment as it has a lot more to offer than what you usually in the news.

[Bolt Brownie]

I wouldn't say restore it's reputation. I think it's more like continue to build it. Until bitcoin goals and use cases are well accepted and regulation becomes clear, I think that big investors will surely start buying it for the future. The problem is that right now taxes are not charged the same way on every country, sometimes BTC is seen as legal tender, so it's like a currency, in other BTC is just seen as property, etc. Until these things are clear, it will be hard for them to make a serious investment in my opinion.

We can help here in my opinion though. If more merchants start accepting BTC, and we as users stat using it that way, we will help build BTC reputation the proper way. Right now, there just to much speculation and no real use.

[Betwrong]

Let us think of another thing mode for transaction related to criminal activities. We all know what Swiss Banks are for? A lot of politicians have offshore accounts and they are using it for laundering money, tax evasion, and simply manipulating what money they really have yet are this Offshore Banks being shut down? Of course not, as even this politicians are benefiting for such business. What I am trying to say reputation is really not one thing to focus on Bitcoin as of the moment as it has a lot more to offer than what you usually in the news.

I agree. Bitcoin is not suffering because of its bad reputation (which is mostly in the past btw) but rather because of the lack of knowledge. Most governments support Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, but people don't bother to check that, remaining with outdated information which prevents them from investing in BTC. The good news is that they will know the truth sooner or later and thus the rising of Bitcoin is inevitable.

[vit05]

People need to immediately stop using dollar bills. 90% of them have traces of cocaine. Worse, 98% have traits of poop. Dolar is the currency most historically used for illegal activities.
Comparatively, it is much more likely that a $ 100 bill was used at some point for illegal activity than a Bitcoin address.
http://edition.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/08/14/cocaine.traces.money/

[felixesteban]

Both illegal activities and the terrible fall in bitcoin have seriously damaged its reputation. Now it will be very difficult to convince new investors to enter the market. Nobody wants to come to a place where the losses are a lot. That's why it'il take too much time to recover. I hope this process is not too long.

[Betwrong]

People need to immediately stop using dollar bills. 90% of them have traces of cocaine. Worse, 98% have traits of poop. Dolar is the currency most historically used for illegal activities.
Comparatively, it is much more likely that a $ 100 bill was used at some point for illegal activity than a Bitcoin address.
http://edition.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/08/14/cocaine.traces.money/

I think you are joking when saying "People need to immediately stop using dollar bills", but those who don't use BTC for the same reason are not joking at all. I even heard that there's a demand for "clean" coins which were just mined. IMO this way of thinking is pretty stupid, because with that logic you should stop using public transport because there are cases when people were intentionally killed with it.

[sindikat]

It seems to me that the popularity of bitcoin on the contrary depends more on the fact that it is difficult to track. This does not mean that all people want to commit crimes. Just the tax policy of all States is aimed at taking more money from people every year. People do not like it and they are looking for alternative options for storing money. The more cryptocurrencies are decentralized the more popular they are.

[milewilda]

How many people stopped trading on fiat foreign exchange markets because these currencies are still used the most to buy drugs on the street and to pay for prostitutes and black market items.  

This so-called reputation that Bitcoin has, is a joke. Bitcoin got this reputation because of "Silkroad" and it was blown out of proportion by the media and Hollywood movie studios, because it was sensational material.  

There are more people using Bitcoin for legal purposes every day, than people that are using it to pay for illicit activities. Most of these people are using privacy focused coins like, Dash and Monero now.  

They do love to target out Bitcoin with those names without even thinking on how fiat do works and plays a role when it comes to illegal activities like purchasing drugs and other related things.
The fact here where it do gives out non good impressions due to media since we do know it can scatter informations and thoughts so fast.Why they do only keeping an eye for bitcoin related effects without even recognizing the traditional fiat history.

[richardsNY]

It seems to me that the popularity of bitcoin on the contrary depends more on the fact that it is difficult to track. This does not mean that all people want to commit crimes. Just the tax policy of all States is aimed at taking more money from people every year. People do not like it and they are looking for alternative options for storing money. The more cryptocurrencies are decentralized the more popular they are.

Bitcoin is a horrible way to store wealth in a private manner without precautions. Nowadays most of the newbies enter through exchanges or services at which they are verified at, and if people blindly assume that no one can track them, they will be busted off their socks real quick. Such ignorance has lead to plenty of drug dealers to be arrested in the last 12 months. The amount of regulations exchanges are subject to is not a joke. If you think that exchanges will guard your privacy and not share it with authorities, then you're wrong. If they are forced to do so they will, maybe even without you knowing....