Bitcoin adoption and increase in crime rate, how correlated are they?.

[CryptopreneurBrainboss]

Seems the media has another trick to discourage people from buying into the idea of engaging themselves in the new currency. Read about the Venezuelan incident that resulted to a dead citizen after his family couldn't afford the ransom meant to release him. It also got to my attention of studies showing that there has been an increase in crime rate as the popular cryptocurency (Bitcoin) gained more popularity in the country.

You can argue that this are all just propaganda to discourage the citizens from engaging themselves in bitcoin but still how correlated are crimes to the the adoption of Bitcoin and cryptocurency in general. Do the adoption of Bitcoin truly increase the crime rate in a country with focus to third world countries since we're likely to find more individual with motive to commit crime just to survive especially if they have some advantage over getting caught.

Just to highlight a paragraph from the article;

The popularity of cryptocurrency in the country has caused an increase in scams and crime using these new assets. Cryptocurrencies, due to their innovative design, can sometimes be more difficult to track than money moved via traditional fiat avenues.
https://news.bitcoin.com/kidnappers-kill-venezuelan-citizen-for-not-paying-ransom-requested-in-bitcoin/

Some positivity here is the article, made it clear that majority of the crimes are still been committed in fiats but still I want us to discuss how an increase in adoption can correlate to increase in crime rate and possibly prevention methods to deploy to combat this trend if it's true.

[ranochigo]

Far easier to launder money than Bitcoins, than you think. Most fiat are untraceable anyways.

There is a misconception that an increase in popularity comes with an increase in adoption, that is incorrect. The rise in popularity also doesn't necessarily means a rise in the crime rate. Something like kidnapping would happen even if the payment is in fiat, the riskiest part isn't with the collection of the ransom in the first place. It might be harder to exchange large quantities of Bitcoins to cash, depending on where you're situated.

[mk4]

I think there technically will be increased crime rates because of bitcoin/crypto, albeit a small increase. But then again, even the internet boom created a lot of criminals as well(scammers/identity thieves/propaganda/etc); and the same with any other technology. What matters is that the positives heavily outweighs the negatives.

[pooya87]

The propaganda will always exist and it serves one goal which is to distract people from the real problems. For example the amount of money that the banking system launders every week is a thousand times higher than the amount of transactions that bitcoin handles in a year. But that's what the media does, they distract people from the reality by focusing on a small matter.

[Ozero]

Even if it were true, what of it? A lot of people are now dying in road accidents in every country. Maybe then we will ban cars? In order to reduce the number of crimes in each country, there are law enforcement agencies. This is their direct responsibility.
In general, studies in the United States and Europe have shown that only a few percent of crimes are committed with the help of bitcoin. So this problem is generally far-fetched.

[actmyname]

At what level of granularity?

You need enough data to distinguish across multiple unknown factors of unknown dependencies.

You could measure a sample size of all the Bitcoiners in a crime-riddled city and conflate some correlation. Correlation is useful for developing possible ideas of causation, though you need a sense of weight.Consider a hypothetical situation where A influences B and C independently, but you assume that B causes C. (Or even deeper levels of dependency)

My hypothetical variables: (localized) wealth inequality, bitcoin adoption, crime rate.
                                 alt: population/technological progress, bitcoin adoption, crime rate

[jrrsparkles]

Generally the internet scams are increasing day by day so we can't assume that the crime rate increases with the adoption of bitcoin. And ofcourse most of the ransoms requires cryptos to release because they think its easier to spend the money compared to the paper fiat meanwhile lot of thise scammers get caught when they try to convert into fiat on exchanges so it has its pros and cons.

We can regulate cryptocurrency and exchanges as well which can reduce the crime rate is something is happening as government claims so people will still get the benefits of cryptocurrencies or atleast they have a way to make money via trading it.

[CryptopreneurBrainboss]

For the record, I'm not supporting the saying of the adoption of Bitcoin bringing about an increase in crime rate but just starting a conversation which I believe we can all reason together. In my locally, ignoring what the media publicized, the result has been on the positive side as household crimes has tend to decrease.

This isn't just credited to Bitcoin but Internet related jobs as a whole as the youths are getting more exposed. Few years back, house robbery, car hijacking and other household crime were on the increase mostly done by the youths but these days the news report less of that. A decent number of Nigerian youths has themselves engage in something more useful like Bitcoin investment/trading, freelancer etc.

The scams and crimes are there but they have less impact, the media are just painting the wrong impression and I'm pretty sure this must be the same with Venezuela and other part of the world as well.

[kryptqnick]

Let me start by saying that it actually seems that in Venezuela, the homicide rate is decreasing over the last few years, whereas Bitcoin is getting more and more popular worldwide. Also, if we look at Western Europe, or the US, the homicide rate has been decreasing since the 90s. So there's no correlation here at all, actually, as the crime is getting less frequent, while Bitcoin popularity is growing. But even if there were a correlation as simple as both parameters increasing over time, it would mean nothing it terms of their causation. For instance, if there were increasingly more killings in Venezuela (or worldwide), and the global tea consumption were on the rise, one could make a similar manipulation that drinking tea causes more violence, which is ridiculous. Same goes for Bitcoin and crime.

[Wexnident]

Well, in the first place, it's a pretty stupid and weak argument once one actually looked towards the deeper reasons as to why scams occur. It's actually easy to make most people shut up when they reason this out tbh, are scams, robberies, kidnapping, and whatnot non-existent in the first place when crypto wasn't here? That single line is enough imo. It's simply a new method that criminals ask to be paid in, but not necessarily the cause for people to actually commit crimes. Crypto is a bloody medium, it's certainly not something that people fight over for like resources such as food and water. It's like saying people kill because they use a knife, my Parents would be a killer then ngl.

[kotajikikox]

For the record, I'm not supporting the saying of the adoption of Bitcoin bringing about an increase in crime rate but just starting a conversation which I believe we can all reason together. In my locally, ignoring what the media publicized, the result has been on the positive side as household crimes has tend to decrease.

Looking at the perspective mate , I think that crime will increase whenever there are increase also in the demand and the prices of cryptocurrency specially the popularity of bitcoin nowadays are doubled and this lures the bad element to find another way of illegal activities entering the crypto or cyber world in which there are newbies and not so familiar individual that jumping also in this market.

with those ideas surely there are only two things will come and this is more victims and more income from the crime provider.

The scams and crimes are there but they have less impact, the media are just painting the wrong impression and I'm pretty sure this must be the same with Venezuela and other part of the world as well.

media are born to make profit to their company nothing caring about what is the truth and what will be the future but instead they are here to bring false statement s and wrong news .

[Lucius]

There is nothing else to say except that there is no logic to blame the tool, but the one who uses it. Crime has always existed, and drug + kidnappings are very popular in South America - and the fact that a criminal came up with the idea to demand a ransom in cryptocurrency only shows that they are also following new technologies. However, their intelligence is not very high if they only require Bitcoin, and they avoid crypto which has a much higher level of anonymity, so they would get a better chance that they will not be caught.

It is quite evident that cryptocurrencies are much more dangerous in the online world, but this is only a consequence of the fact that a large part of people who use the Internet are quite naive and do not have any basic knowledge about computers/online security.

Countries with a low standard of living will always have a high crime rate - and criminals will always use what is available to them. The fact is that cryptocurrencies will also become part of that system, but I do not believe that they will become dominant when it comes to criminal activities in the near future.

[sapnu]

Seems the media has another trick to discourage people from buying into the idea of engaging themselves in the new currency. Read about the Venezuelan incident that resulted to a dead citizen after his family couldn't afford the ransom meant to release him. It also got to my attention of studies showing that there has been an increase in crime rate as the popular cryptocurency (Bitcoin) gained more popularity in the country.

You can argue that this are all just propaganda to discourage the citizens from engaging themselves in bitcoin but still how correlated are crimes to the the adoption of Bitcoin and cryptocurency in general. Do the adoption of Bitcoin truly increase the crime rate in a country with focus to third world countries since we're likely to find more individual with motive to commit crime just to survive especially if they have some advantage over getting caught.

Just to highlight a paragraph from the article;

The popularity of cryptocurrency in the country has caused an increase in scams and crime using these new assets. Cryptocurrencies, due to their innovative design, can sometimes be more difficult to track than money moved via traditional fiat avenues.
https://news.bitcoin.com/kidnappers-kill-venezuelan-citizen-for-not-paying-ransom-requested-in-bitcoin/

Some positivity here is the article, made it clear that majority of the crimes are still been committed in fiats but still I want us to discuss how an increase in adoption can correlate to increase in crime rate and possibly prevention methods to deploy to combat this trend if it's true.

The involvement of crypto in crimes should not be blamed on its existence instead it is the evil deeds of people that should be. It only becomes an effective instrument due to the anonymity and the convenience it gives off to criminals. Crimes are crimes regardless of what tool is being used and at the very first place, bitcoin or crypto's purpose is not to tolerate crimes, it longs for financial freedom for everyone right now and in the future. Not because you are involved in a tool that is being used in crime, it would make you a criminal too, it is the way you use it and how you act up whenever you witness a crime involving crypto.

[DeathAngel]

Mainstream media & the status quo will always push bitcoin as bad. They say it’s used for drugs, terrorism, laundering plus a whole host of other things. What do they think fiat is used for too? They’re not stupid, they’re just trying to manipulate average joe into not buying bitcoin. The fiat system is crumbling & bitcoin is the get out. Buy bitcoin, don’t listen to their FUD.

[Dhoe]

Bitcoin adoption and crime rate increase, how correlated? what is clear is that there are definitely more positives than negatives, as technology advances it is certain that the crime rate will increase, when there is an opportunity sometimes that is where crime occurs, so we are required to always be vigilant, must do everything carefully..

[masterrex]

I guess it is not clear what are those types of crimes? if it was an internet-based crime will I believe that's true, those crimes are committed ever since, scammers, hackers, etc are freely moved on the internet and that's normal because the internet is open, as I remember in 2016, I became a victim of a scam, driven by so-called Bitcoin investment, and it's pretty common on the internet nowadays, but I believe it happens for a reason, that's why we should take extra precaution before dealing this kind of investment next time.

But if people say that Bitcoin/cryptocurrency adoption is the main cause why? the crime is increasing like street crimes, murder, robbery, etc. for me it's a total nonsense and baseless correlation and it should be ignored for the peace of mind.  

[UmerIdrees]

Seems the media has another trick to discourage people from buying into the idea of engaging themselves in the new currency. Read about the Venezuelan incident that resulted to a dead citizen after his family couldn't afford the ransom meant to release him. It also got to my attention of studies showing that there has been an increase in crime rate as the popular cryptocurency (Bitcoin) gained more popularity in the country.

How does this is badly related to bitcoin or crypto ?  If the family could not afford to pay the ransom, in bitcoin or in fiat, the result would have been same.
Media is wrongly projecting that if you have bitcoin, you are subjected to ransomware attack which is again misleading.

In order to save yourself from ransomware attack is to properly setup the security of your system so that your system is not compromised. This is the teaching which should have been floating on social media.

[Darker45]

I think it is exaggerated to attribute to Bitcoin a certain country's increase in crime rate. I am more than sure that if we are to look closely at individual crimes, the great majority of them don't have anything to do with Bitcoin. In the first place, what percentage of the Venezuelan population is actually involved in Bitcoin?

But I guess there is indeed a new scam modus with the rise of Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies. But Bitcoin is not to blame for this. As a matter of fact, Bitcoin is also a victim. The technology is useful and has wonderful features and yet it has also earned a negative label due to certain scams. Again, this is not Bitcoin's fault. It is not Bitcoin's fault that it is being used by scammers. You don't blame knives for the rise of stabbing incidents.

[famososMuertos]

...//...,,,You can argue that this are all just propaganda to discourage the citizens from engaging themselves in bitcoin but still how correlated are crimes to the the adoption of Bitcoin and cryptocurency in general. Do the adoption of Bitcoin truly increase the crime rate in a country with focus to third world countries since we're likely to find more individual with motive to commit crime just to survive especially if they have some advantage over getting caught.
...//...:

The increase in the rate of crime it is based on some traditional indications, perhaps must be updated, well this depends on the countries where it is determined, but some countries do not include the computer crimes, scam schemes based on cryptocurrency, etc.

Specificaly in which if Bitcoin is causing raising these crime rates it is a question of accepting any crime where Bitcoin is involved formally in the statistics.

As for that if in the third world countries there is growth crime for the use of Bitcoin actually this data at countries of the first world are best taken these complaints is at least better documented in the countries called first level.

In any case, the rate for traditional crimes is so tall that it will be very difficult in the short term that based on the cold numbers to determine that in a specific country that rate of criminality increases by the use of Bitcoin.

On purpose there is an index, the GPI (Global Peace Index) where we can see that certain first-class countries are far away from the top.

The 2020 GPI indicates Iceland, New Zealand, Portugal, Austria, and Denmark to be the most peaceful countries, and Afghanistan, Syria, Iraq, South Sudan, and Yemen to be the least peaceful.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_Peace_Index

Other source: https://www.economicsandpeace.org

Maybe a good hint of "departure" to start a serious study would be focused on the ends of this list and compare results.
________________
^{Edit: This page shows in detail the global classification:
https://countryeconomy.com/demography/global-peace-index}

[topbitcoin]

For me, bitcoin itself is neutral. And yes, media need something to attract people so they create news that maybe still hype. We all know fiat is used to crime too, and it is not really booming because it is common thing. But actually i am not agree with media too, why they only give people news when something bad is use bitcoin or maybe bad affect on people who use bitcoin. Like in my country when investment in bitcoin is scam, investment in fiat actually a lot too but not booming, or maybe trader who suicide because lose in trading, there are a lot of people who success in trading but not much appeared in media.