Early signs of crime with bitcoin.

[btc_angela]

It is also said that this is not his first crime using crypto currency.
 This are one of the reasons crypto is still rejected .
 What are your thoughts on these?.
 

Yes, you can say that it is one reason why crypto is rejected, but you have serious flaw in your argument. Just look at the old and traditional fiat system, it's been used to laundered money way before.

• 3-Count Felon, JPMorgan Chase, Caught Laundering More Dirty Money.
• JPMorgan and Deutsche Bank Named in Money Laundering Report.

Just a couple of example that Banks are much worst as compare to bitcoin if you are talking about crimes.

[so98nn]

[...]
 This are one of the reasons crypto is still rejected .
 What are your thoughts on these?.

I dont think just because crypto is being used for money laundering is the prime reason for its rejection?
That's a obsolete statement because every currency or commodity can be used to launder your "one form of the money into another".

I mean, the laundering itself means you hide your assets by covering it up with another asset. Whether it is bitcoin, fiat, gold or diamonds for that matter, they all can be used for the laundering of money.


Bitcoin, on the other hand has more potential than just money laundering.
It's technological advancement for easing day-today transaction or the way we make payments. Comparatively it might be slow, but it's giving us lot more opportunities than negative feedbacks.

It's a decade worth artwork, still under preparation. Give it time, and they will understand it has lot more positive things to accept it.

[avikz]

When the world is gradually accepting bitcoin, the already made bitcoiners are using those little opportunity to commit various crimes with bitcoin.
  A Russian was sentenced to French prison for bitcoin laundering.
 Source : https://apnews.com/article/cryptocurrency-paris-money-laundering-bitcoin-russia-61b5109e954f494b80d51c452b3b18e2
It is also said that this is not his first crime using crypto currency.
 This are one of the reasons crypto is still rejected .
 What are your thoughts on these?.

Can't deny the fact that bitcoin is used in many crimes worldwide, especially in darknet for drug or arms trade. Even criminals were using it for internal transactions! For money laundering, bitcoin and XMR has become a major tool for the criminals. Recently a Chinese man was caught in India who has been using bitcoin since last 3 years to launders millions of dollars. So this is a real threat!

Probably that's one of the major reasons why bitcoin is still not legal in many countries. But sadly, there will always be such people around us who will make illegal use of anything. These can't be uprooted, unfortunately!

[Crptomagma]

I read these articles some days ago and o don’t think bitcoin should be blamed because literally anything that has value can be used for illegal activities. Fiat has been used for lots of illegal activities both money laundering, human trafficking and lots of unfavorable factors but still doesn’t make the currency bad. So if bitcoin is used to perpetuate crime then we shouldn’t blame it on the currency but try to device means to stop it. Bitcoin is a digital currency and is flexible for online platform.

[Slow death]

When the world is gradually accepting bitcoin, the already made bitcoiners are using those little opportunity to commit various crimes with bitcoin.

talking about bitcoin and crime is a big joke, when we live in a world where we know that people are greedy to the point of committing crimes for anything that has value.

- there are hundreds of elephants being hunted by criminals

- there are hundreds of forests that have been destroyed by criminals for years

- there are hundreds of people who are being enslaved in the gold and diamond mines and rubies

- there are hundreds of corrupt people who steal billions of dollars from the government

  bitcoin is far from being compared to many other crimes

A Russian was sentenced to French prison for bitcoin laundering.

it is still a very small number... FiAT and Gold have a much darker past. diamonds and oil are others that have black past

[Mpamaegbu]

When the world is gradually accepting bitcoin, the already made bitcoiners are using those little opportunity to commit various crimes with bitcoin.
  A Russian was sentenced to French prison for bitcoin laundering.

Nah! Far from it. It's just giving a dog a bad name so as to hang it. The real reason behind the skepticism in accepting Bitcoin doesn't line in criminals using it for illegal stuff, nah! The reason isn't farfetched. It's because Bitcoin as a decentralized asset doesn't give the government access to controlling the finance of citizens and other fiscal policy of governance which fiat allows the government. With Bitcoin and its limited supply, it would be very difficult to regulate government's monetary policies.

[Rishabh riyz]

which currency isn't used as extortion money or for funding criminal activities ?
well anonymous nature of funds transaction in BTC may sound fishy and may be misused by criminals but it isn't like  its untraceable by locating the wallet address transactions might be back traced ,
but the way people phrase this situation is wrong , the problem is criminals not them using BTC for their activities, even if they restrict the use of crypto currency  the crime rate wouldn't go down , criminals would just use fiats like they are suing now.

[Wawa2013]

Many people get misleading information regarding Bitcoin, one of which is that many people think Bitcoin is widely used for illegal activities.
Even if we carry out an investigation properly, fiat currency is what is widely used for illegal activities. Maybe Bitcoin hater spread this
misleading news, fortunately now information is easy to get. So many people finally know the truth about Bitcoin, so nowadays more and
more people are investing in Bitcoin.

And I don't agree that many countries reject Bitcoin because Bitcoin is widely used for crimes, because the government also knows the truth
about Bitcoin. So the real reason Bitcoin was rejected, because the government cannot control Bitcoin and it is feared that it can replace
the role of fiat currency.

[shane_gr]

These words are said by the opponents of Bitcoin and they know that with these words, they can change the minds of many people towards Bitcoin. But the main fans of Bitcoin, who are not few in number! Bitcoin is being traded and yet Bitcoin is now in the 20,000 channel.

[davis196]

Your post follows the same pattern used by many FUDsters.
"Bla bla bla Bitcoin is used by criminals...blabla bla Bitcoin is used by scammers.
Here's proof:(Insert random lawsuit where the criminals and scammers were using cryptocurrencies)."
Op,what's the point of such forum posts?
If cryptocurrencies were 100% illegal in all countries around the world,do you think that scammers won't use crypto as a medium of exchange?I think that they will continue to use crypto payments.
The forbidden fruit is always more desired...

[rijaljun]

Well that's really true money laundering is one of the cons of the Bitcoin since anyone can really hide their asset through Bitcoin and we all know that the addresses in bitocin are pseudonymous it can still be traceable. Well we can't really take that fact away from Bitcoin and other cryptocurrency.

[kryptqnick]

When the world is gradually accepting bitcoin, the already made bitcoiners are using those little opportunity to commit various crimes with bitcoin.
  A Russian was sentenced to French prison for bitcoin laundering.
 Source : https://apnews.com/article/cryptocurrency-paris-money-laundering-bitcoin-russia-61b5109e954f494b80d51c452b3b18e2
It is also said that this is not his first crime using crypto currency.
 This are one of the reasons crypto is still rejected .
 What are your thoughts on these?.
 

I'm proud of France in this situation. In my country, even people who launder lots of fiat don't get sentenced to anything usually (because of high levels of corruption), let alone a crypto one! I'm glad that scam of any sort is taken seriously. However, I do share the concerns of others that Bitcoin fraud should be treated the same as fiat fraud and the type of money has nothing to do with the crimes committed and shouldn't lead to some reputation issues of the currency. It's the crime that is bad, not the type of money used to commit it.

[Zionatin]

So you saying we all scammers and thieves? I can think of way worse crimes than money laundering. You don't need bitcoin to launder money you can use thousands of ways.
Crypto rejected? By who? Where? Now you making things up. Your post is bad and not well thought out at all.

My thoughts are that you will believe anything you read just about. Don't you think for yourself? We should be asking you what your thoughts are. So what are your thoughts?

[pixie85]

From this source, you can see the actual scam metheld used and it wasn't Bitcoin;
"French prosecutors say Vinnik was one of the creators of a malicious software called “Locky” that was delivered through email. If downloaded, the recipient’s data was encrypted and they were asked to pay ransom in bitcoin to free it."

The ransom could have been paid in any other valuable commodity as ransom payment was a thing long before Bitcoin was invented.

He was also the owner of BTCe exchange that got shut down when he was arrested.

He's going to laugh when he comes out of prison. He only got 5 years and 100 thousand EUR fine and his malware stole millions and he made a lot of money running an exchange. He probably also stole some coins when the exchange disappeared so he should be good. I'd sacrifice 5 years of my life if I could later live like a millionaire.

Bitcoin has nothing to do with this guy and his scams.

[Wysi]

This is just an attempt from government agencies who are against Bitcoin and to be honest it looks funny to point out crimes related to bitcoin where in such crimes has been taking ace from decades via alternative techniques. Let's not make Bitcoin a scapegoat here and I do agree that some hackers and kidnappers are asking ransom in Bitcoin to avoid traces but we should think of stoping them from commenting crimes in first place instead of terming Bitcoin as criminal's tool.

[20kevin20]

Well that's really true money laundering is one of the cons of the Bitcoin since anyone can really hide their asset through Bitcoin and we all know that the addresses in bitocin are pseudonymous it can still be traceable. Well we can't really take that fact away from Bitcoin and other cryptocurrency.

It's easier to launder cash than Bitcoin, considering the currently available blockchain analysis tools we have. Criminals will never cease to find ways to do their crimes, be it with or without fiat/crypto's existence. As you said, the addresses are still traceable. Hence, it's actually an advantage for the authorities that they can clearly see who sent coins to who (and how much).

[Twentyonepaylots]

All eyes are on bitcoin since it's still considered new comoared to fiat that have been servicing the people for millenia, so it would not be surprising if the people pick on bitciin this time. What makes me sick is how the media portrays bitcoin as the devil's currency or something when in fact what we just want is a decentralized currency that is not chaining us in debt or in turmoil.

Well that's really true money laundering is one of the cons of the Bitcoin since anyone can really hide their asset through Bitcoin and we all know that the addresses in bitocin are pseudonymous it can still be traceable. Well we can't really take that fact away from Bitcoin and other cryptocurrency.

It's easier to launder cash than Bitcoin, considering the currently available blockchain analysis tools we have. Criminals will never cease to find ways to do their crimes, be it with or without fiat/crypto's existence. As you said, the addresses are still traceable. Hence, it's actually an advantage for the authorities that they can clearly see who sent coins to who (and how much).

It is easier but is not as secure as bitcoin. Honestly I don't even know how these guys were able to catch the person and I commend them for that. Swiss banks have been the go to for a very long time but even them proved to be chained to a lord, so they aren't as reliable as they are in the past.

[lienfaye]

Bitcoin used as tool to scam people and money laundering issue are just a few reasons on why it has a bad impression for people who are not really into it. I mean those who dont have deep knowledge about bitcoin might think negatively towards it just by reading or seeing on the news a bias content showing the negative sides of using bitcoin.

Well there's nothing new anymore if they raise a bitcoin laundering issue, its really possible for people who have bad intention on why they chose to use btc. However in fiat this is also happening and I think its inevitable to those people who like to take advantage the perks of using a decentralized currency because its cashless and easy to transfer for their own convenience.

[ropyu1978]

They will not care what the profit tool is, whether it is fiat or bicoin or other, because every pro must have a cons, there is good there will be evil, if you say the first signs of evil with bitcoin, it is nothing more than a handful of people who want dropping bitcoin, because maybe they are jealous of seeing bitcoin growing day by day, some of them will continue to try to keep bitcoin for their personal needs .. criminals are still criminals, they will still use methods to destroy other people with their various ridiculous reasons ..

[uneng]

When the world is gradually accepting bitcoin, the already made bitcoiners are using those little opportunity to commit various crimes with bitcoin.
  A Russian was sentenced to French prison for bitcoin laundering.
 Source : https://apnews.com/article/cryptocurrency-paris-money-laundering-bitcoin-russia-61b5109e954f494b80d51c452b3b18e2

Well, yesterday there was a thread on this forum saying only 1% of total bitcoin usage is related to illegal activity. It looks like you have found one of these few criminals using bitcoin which belongs to this tiny 1%. If we compare this percentage with the percentage of illegal activity though fiat currency we will conclude bitcoin is much less used in a wrong way than fiat.

Bitcoin illicit transactions are less than 1%