900,000 illegal bitcoins.

[bitcoinst]

At least 870,000 bitcoins are associated with illegal activities. This is about $ 10 billion.

• Darknet marketplaces - 585,000 BTC.
• Stolen bitcoins - 204,000 BTC.
• Scam project organizers - 98,000 BTC.
• Other illegal activities 3,000 BTC.

https://markets.chainalysis.com/#risk-illicit-placement

One day, all these bitcoins will somehow hit the market.  

[AB de Royse777]

One day, all these bitcoins will somehow hit the market.  

It's very possible that our coins are already mixed with illegal coins those were marked on the addresses. You never know.

Does this worry you much?
It doesn't for me.

When we deal with cash, we do not know the source of that cash whether it came from an illegal or legal source one hand before me. I think the Bitcoin hatters are very active to plant the seeds in our head some day we will be in trouble. There will be time when we will not have these centralized exchanges with centralized fiat, there will be a time when we will not have any centralized financial system. Wait for those days.

PS: I am not encouraging those illegal Bitcoin traders by any means. I just think that nothing can stop Bitcoin.

[Ucy]

I wonder what the site defines as illicit/illegal activities. What laws(in relation to countries transaction origins?) are they based on? And how did they really determine this? Did they factor in the deflationary nature of Bitcoin? 1 BTC in 2010 would be worth alot more today... When did this research take place, by the way?
Can thesame method be used to determine how much of physical/digital fiat currencies and precious metals are used for illegal activities... maybe from 2015 till now? Just want to know if the research is reliable and can be repeated with good results. Also to  compare the illicit transactions to other currencies and determine how bad things  are.

[NotFuzzyWarm]

At least 870,000 bitcoins are associated with illegal activities. This is about $ 10 billion.
....
One day, all these bitcoins will somehow hit the market.  

So what?
There is no doubt many more 10's of billions of dollars in fiat associated with illegal activities.
Fun Fact: At least in the West, check any large random sample of paper currency and there will be traces of cocaine on much of it. Does anyone worry about that? No.

[7788bitcoin]

~
There is no doubt many more 10's of billions of dollars in fiat associated with illegal activities.
Fun Fact: At least in the West, check any large random sample of paper currency and there will be traces of cocaine on much of it. Does anyone worry about that? No.

There is no doubt that trillions of dollars and fiat currency will be used for illegal activities but there is no evidence trail for fiat transaction but that is not the case with bitcoin, it is an evidence trail and every transaction every made is available for anyone to track and if you are holding coins that are marked as illegal then you might get into trouble in the future, right now no one cares about the coins we are receiving but that might not be the case in the future.

[pakhitheboss]

Does this amount even matter in this world? where Fiat currency is used for all illegal activities. It does not bother me neither it should bother anyone here as it is a very small amount compared to what is stored in Swiss Banks.

[thesmallgod]

Some of them already hit the market these are some of them https://twitter.com/whale_alert/status/1287807444006117376?s=20
https://twitter.com/whale_alert/status/1287807441275629568?s=20 I'm very sure many must have been mixed are sold in exchange as well. Stolen coin are becoming rampant daily and people are making use of bitcoin as escape route for this illicit scam

[gentlemand]

If you have any Bitcoin then the chances are extremely high you have some that was either stolen from someone or earned selling 'shit'. Silk Road and similar will have had hundreds of thousands of coins passing through and they don't disappear like magic, they keep on circulating.

As long as you don't end with a toxic brand on your forehead it is what it is.

[rexxarofmoknathal]

I wonder what the site defines as illicit/illegal activities. What laws(in relation to countries transaction origins?) are they based on? And how did they really determine this?

I think the questions above are important to consider as there's no clear transparency about how these BTCs have been categorised a illegal crypto. I have no doubt that a large amount of crypto came into circulation from illegal activities but this is not the point. The specifics we need to focus on is the flexibility crypto provides for each and everyone of us, and the independency from third parties.

For instance, right now because of the pandemic citizens from certain countries cannot longer access their own cash from their own banks because the government doesn't allow them to. So we should be grateful that we now have crypto where this level of restriction isn't possible.

[pixie85]

If you have any Bitcoin then the chances are extremely high you have some that was either stolen from someone or earned selling 'shit'. Silk Road and similar will have had hundreds of thousands of coins passing through and they don't disappear like magic, they keep on circulating.

As long as you don't end with a toxic brand on your forehead it is what it is.

There were many similar markets like that second silk road and sheep marketplace that was hacked and many many more that exist to this day.

I could argue that more than 50% of all coins in existence were once used for something illegal even if this illegal thing was tax evasion. I really don't care just as I don't wash my cash when I get it   Some of the cash you use every day was probably used to buy drugs or prostitutes. Does it change anything?

[SpanishSoldier]

At least 870,000 bitcoins are associated with illegal activities. This is about $ 10 billion.

• Darknet marketplaces - 585,000 BTC.
• Stolen bitcoins - 204,000 BTC.
• Scam project organizers - 98,000 BTC.
• Other illegal activities 3,000 BTC.

https://i.imgur.com/HUUhFuP.png

https://markets.chainalysis.com/#risk-illicit-placement

One day, all these bitcoins will somehow hit the market.  

Chainalysis seems to have put up some arbitrary figure backed by no proof for cross-verification. Where does one check the addresses, they believe, belong to Darknet marketplaces / Stolen bitcoins / Scam project organizers / Other illegal activities? There is no way to check whether any address ever transacted with their suspect list either. It seems, this report is just a marketing gimmick to attract deep pocket customers.

[Lordhermes]

It's very possible that our coins are already mixed with illegal coins those were marked on the addresses. You never know.

When we deal with cash, we do not know the source of that cash whether it came from an illegal or legal source one hand before me.

Exactly as you said, in real and physical market, peolle exchanges both stolen and salary paid money together, who cares? So far as it provides liquidity and fast execution, who cares? There's is an African proverb saying, " even if money comes in dirty bags, you must welcome it". This had never been a bother in me, and never mind OP.

[gentlemand]

Chainalysis seems to have put up some arbitrary figure backed by no proof for cross-verification. Where does one check the addresses, they believe, belong to Darknet marketplaces / Stolen bitcoins / Scam project organizers / Other illegal activities? There is no way to check whether any address ever transacted with their suspect list either. It seems, this report is just a marketing gimmick to attract deep pocket customers.

The numbers could be totally made up, but I'm sure they have ways and means they're not going to tell us, however there's no denying a large amount of coinage has been exchanged for questionable things over the years.

If your coins are not straight from the miner the likelihood is extremely high we all have a little piece of them.

[Bill Gates]

If your coins are not straight from the miner the likelihood is extremely high we all have a little piece of them.

True. But, how does Chainalysis know whether the coin is actually dirty or has a travel history from a service similar to the one in your signature?

[gentlemand]

True. But, how does Chainalysis know whether the coin is actually dirty or has a travel history from a service similar to the one in your signature?

That's their trade and they're unlikely to tell you how they know. They could of course be making it all up. It's not as if some tubby sheriff is going to know better.

But there are plenty of cases of moronic dark market traders sending coins straight to exchanges. And those Twitter hackers posted an address with previous transactions to exchanges. The criminally minded are just as lazy and stupid as the rest of us.

Even the more careful can blow it all with one slip.

[bittraffic]

That 900K illegal BTC can't be destroyed though as long as its owned by someone and will send it to someone else, its just right there and will keep circulating and may even get our clean from a centralized exchange one day.  Its the fiat bills are far dangerous, it doesn't have traces of cocaine but also coronavirus. They might wanna sanitize them all first before looking into BTC.

[bitcoinst]

Does this worry you much?

I am worried about the fact that these shadow bitcoins can enter the market at the most inopportune moment and in one way or another affect the movement of the bitcoin price.
Of course, this is unlikely, because we do not know the full picture of who exactly owns all these bitcoin, most likely scattered groups of people.
Otherwise, I agree, there is essentially nothing to worry about.

[Rengga Jati]

At least 870,000 bitcoins are associated with illegal activities. This is about $ 10 billion.

These are all confirmed? I wonder how this site gathers the data to that they really know that the Bitcoin is used in relation to criminals. This is not a small amount of Bitcoin. but compared to the whole supply of BTC, it may be only several percentages. however, it will also influence the market flows if it hits the market. But, the questions are:
1. Does anybody know where are now those Bitcoins? Only hold in their wallet? on the Bitcoin mixers? Or already traded in the market?
2. If it is still kept on their wallet, will they open it and trade it on the market at the same time? I think no because they are different networking and they may have different stages or ways to spend the BTC.
3. DO they always influence the market if they spend the BTC on the market? I think that they may not have a big influence on the market because they are small compared to the whole supply of the BTC. Moreover, the circulating supply of BTC so far is around 18,445,150 BTC. I think that they will also not trade it at the same market to make a big difference.
Well, this is only my opinion because those criminals are not correlated at all. they have different networking. We also do not know whether they have been trading those amounts or not. So, never be panic about this, but stay calm and also watch out.

[tabas]

There is more in cash transactions but they don't have record, only estimation of how much drugs and other illegal activities were involved during their seized. I agree with them that it's also the same with cash, we don't know the actual source of it.

[bolawin]

How about use those bitcoin for good purpose,