Question about accepting Bitcoin in my new shipping business

[Kelward]

Use enterprise payment infrastructure that accept bitcoin like BVNK which recently acquired by mastercard, let them handle the complicated process of knowing the DIRTY or BAD bitcoin as you said.
So whatever bitcoin you received will be clean and you won't need to think about differentiating the tagged bitcoin and the clean ones. Consider the fee as the price for saving yourself from the headache.

That is, if you don't mind a custodial solution. If you prefer non custodial solution I think it will be complicated. After all, you don't get access to such database easily.

You gave good advice. OP needs to use an intermediary or third-party that will receive payment on behalf of his company. The intermediary would remit "clean money". But using intermiadiaries wouldnt remove the risk of tracing the so-called tainted coins to his company. The government can still request information from BVNK regarding the company. So they can still trace such coins to the company since BVNK does comprehensive KYC and KYB.

I don't think OP needs to be scared about receiving "dirty' Bitcoin. If his service is legitimate, it will be clear that he accepted the coin for a legal service. If there are no connections apart from receiving payments for service rendered, there is nothing to worry about.   

Since there is no how of knowing a tainted coins by merely looking at the address I believe that the safest option for OP to protect his business from being flagged is to use a third party or an intermediary before receiving the Bitcoin. I don't think that he has anything to worry about if he's running a legitimate business because there are paperworks to indicate manually where a transaction is coming from and the payment is with Bitcoin. Possibly add the sending wallet as a part of the document to show that it was for a business transaction, with these procedures he won't have a blame with the authorities if he by chance receives a tainted coins.

[cxtreenal]

In centralized financial systems, where criminal activity is occurring, governments can monitor and identify criminals. Although it is a decentralized system, Bitcoin records are stored on the blockchain but governments may not have the tools to identify suspicious transactions.

You want to accept Bitcoin in business, but you are concerned that some criminals use cryptocurrency or Bitcoin for their transactions and it can be difficult to identify them. As you want to trade Bitcoin as a business, you will likely need government permission to do so and may need to keep separate records of Bitcoin transactions. To avoid local legal complications, conduct business transparently and comply with the prevailing regulations in the country.

[Richbased]

You are into a legitimate business of which you own a license of your business and want to accept payments in bitcoin so why should it be your concerned if the bitcoins that will be sent to you come from a real source or not? if an illegal bitcoin is tracked to your wallet and you can defend yourself that it was sent to you based on the business you had with the sender i don't think your bitcoins will be confiscated. Unless you are combining your business as an avenue for money laundry that's where it will become a problem. Keep records of every transactions, dates and the amount of bitcoins that was sent to you that's the only thing you need to do. Forget about the source the bitcoins come from but if there are ways to know if a bitcoin is sent from a real source you can also check but that will be a very stressful task to do.

[Agbamoni]

We all know that some Bitcoin are called DIRTY or BAD simply because they are stolen and have been tagged already, how will one avoid collecting a bad Bitcoin as payment?

There is a way to control the risk of hacked Bitcoin or stolen funds that were sent to you from a customer. Firstly, use a payment processor to receive your Bitcoin instead of a direct wallet. The purpose of the payment processor is to check incoming Bitcoin for risk before the transaction is confirmed. Secondly, once your transaction has been confirmed, instantly sell them to any stable coin of your choice. Dont leave it pending in Bitcoin.

[Sammye3]

For business purposes,  I dont think its is a wise idea that stolen bitcoin is used as payment means,  given the circumstance that it is a shipping process which requires you to provide a certain detail for delivery. There are better ways to spread the money aside an international purchase which could leave traces. In several cases, mixers are used to limit how far the stolen bitcoin can be traced by converting it into several coins and sending it to a decentralized exchange.

In a situation where it is a first time payment,  do not rush to release goods after payment and watch out to see if the payment gets flagged. In big money transactions,  it is best you know your customer personally or ask for the sending address for security purposes and look it up using Block chain.com Explorer to monitor for any illegal transaction.

[The Cryptovator]

We all know that some Bitcoin are called DIRTY or BAD simply because they are stolen and have been tagged already, how will one avoid collecting a bad Bitcoin as payment?

Is the case of tracing or tracking the bad Bitcoin to my business possible or it's not some to worry about.

This is the real concern if you accept only fresh Bitcoin. I think you have to use some paid tools to check AML scores. Otherwise, there is no way to avoid such problems. I am not aware of any specific tools, but other platforms have been using this kind of tool, or they implemented their own system. You have to look for such solutions.

I admit people may try to spend their dirty Bitcoin on your platform, but it's good you are thinking about this concern from the beginning. However, try to add a non-custodial payment system like a BTC Pay Server. This means your funds will be in your own custody.

[khiholangkang]

We all know that some Bitcoin are called DIRTY or BAD simply because they are stolen and have been tagged already, how will one avoid collecting a bad Bitcoin as payment?

It would be helpful if you could give us an estimate of how much you expect to earn in Bitcoin annually, even if it’s just a rough guess. It’s not the same whether it’s the equivalent of $1,000 or $1 million. If it’s the former, don’t worry about that “dirty” Bitcoin nonsense; even if what you receive could be classified as dirty, you won’t have any trouble spending or exchanging it. For larger amounts, it might make some sense, but if you can prove that you received that money from sales of a legitimate business, you shouldn’t have any problems either.

I previously also experienced the same confusion as the OP in the application of bitcoin payments in my business, we know when going to exchange to the problematic bitcoin exchange it is always rejected, especially in my local exchange.
But if the quota is lower than $1000 it is guaranteed that it will not be a problem, I am happy with your words.
 
Because what business people are afraid of when receiving bitcoin payments and accidentally receiving bitcoins that have problems in their track record cannot be made into money back to be rotated in business again.

[HeatBit]

First of all good luck with your shipping business. Although it is really possible that Bitcoin was bad because it was used in crime, you can protect yourself by paying with a professional payment service such as BitPay instead of personal app because most payment services automatically check for presence of bad coins.

Trading sites can also look back to your business and shortly lock your account, but you can easily get this fixed by keeping good lists of your shipping bills to show that you were paying real service.
Tests show that less than one percent of Bitcoin is linked to crimes and so, if one does not use hiding tools and keeps clear papers, risk is very small and should not stop someone from getting planned result.

A friend actually said this same thing, that Bitpay will make things easier🤘, thanks for your opinion, also I want to thank everyone that contributed to this thread, I will have to choose what I feel is best.

Thank you all.

[Ruttoshi]

You cannot know any bitcoin that's gotten from illegal activities. There's nothing like tainted bitcoin, it's just a name that the government gives it because the bitcoin was used in illegal activities. If it's tainted as the government proclaims why are they hoarding it for themselves.

You need a payment processor to make bitcoin payment easier for you in your business. You can give discount to your customers that wikl be paying in bitcoin to motivate them.

[Findingnemo]

First of all good luck with your shipping business. Although it is really possible that Bitcoin was bad because it was used in crime, you can protect yourself by paying with a professional payment service such as BitPay instead of personal app because most payment services automatically check for presence of bad coins.

Trading sites can also look back to your business and shortly lock your account, but you can easily get this fixed by keeping good lists of your shipping bills to show that you were paying real service.
Tests show that less than one percent of Bitcoin is linked to crimes and so, if one does not use hiding tools and keeps clear papers, risk is very small and should not stop someone from getting planned result.

A friend actually said this same thing, that Bitpay will make things easier🤘, thanks for your opinion, also I want to thank everyone that contributed to this thread, I will have to choose what I feel is best.

Thank you all.

When you are using a payment processor, you get the fiat into your bank account not as crypto but using it will eliminate the scare factor here. But do you really care the bitcoin you got is tainted? That is not possible in the long run, so if the authorities knock your door one day of accusing something of hacked account, you can simply show the purchase and the transaction record. This should be enough you to get out of any trouble.

[Zigabel]

Following the nature of your business which is shipping of items from one place to another, you may not have to bother about that, there will be many ways to get to the person who sent you the Bitcoin as payment if the need be that they be tracked, by the way, criminals will not want to transact with Bitcoin directly at the level of shipping items and the amount which I don't have an idea but if it is not huge, they will not want to pay through Bitcoin, it will be too much of a hassle for them, just make sure to always keep good record of your customers that paid in Bitcoin and get a payment processor aswell to facilitate the process, I know a few others has mentioned this but just to re-emphasise, if you do all of this, you may not really have need to bother.

[Floxynice]

I've been away from the forum for a while now because I am working on sorting my new business out, a small shipping company that I have always wanted to run for a very long time now, very soon it will be possible as I am currently on the licensing part.

I also want to accept Bitcoin as payment for the new business since I myself have used few who accepted Bitcoin as payment from me, but I want to ask a question that's been bothering my mind.

We all know that some Bitcoin are called DIRTY or BAD simply because they are stolen and have been tagged already, how will one avoid collecting a bad Bitcoin as payment?

Is the case of tracing or tracking the bad Bitcoin to my business possible or it's not some to worry about.

You can use a blockchain explorer to see if the coin has passed through suspicious wallets. This is one way I think may help you in knowing what you are receiving. Aside from that, you should have the personal details of your customers who choose to make payments in Bitcoin. They should be treated as high-risk customers, whom you will keep a closer eye on and be able to contact if anything goes wrong.

But in a general sense, I do not think a scammer will take the risk of exposing his identity just like that; they usually need more cover so their activities will not be traced. You may just be a bad idea to them, except the customer is not aware that he has tainted coins in his possession.

[Dunamisx]

We all know that some Bitcoin are called DIRTY or BAD simply because they are stolen and have been tagged already, how will one avoid collecting a bad Bitcoin as payment?

You may not be able to prevent anyone from sending tainted bitcoin to your address, even though the blockchain can be used in checking weather it was tinted or not and known from the wallet it was being sent, but preventing who should send a particular money that is legit or not may not be prevented by you, just the way you are selling goods and services by accepting Fiat and can't dictate on the source of money they are using in buying goods from you.

[Smartvirus]

We all know that some Bitcoin are called DIRTY or BAD simply because they are stolen and have been tagged already, how will one avoid collecting a bad Bitcoin as payment?

Is the case of tracing or tracking the bad Bitcoin to my business possible or it's not some to worry about.

We all don’t know nothing about Bitcoin being referred to as a “dirty or bad” currency. A currency can never be dirty or bad irrespective of how it’s used. While you might term the means of usage as money laundering while the currency involved can be referred to as laundered money, a currency can never be bad or dirty.

It is true that there are bad actors in every sector and with Bitcoin offering anonymity in terms of usage, these bad actors could leverage on that for their selfish reasons and that’s okay.
One of the key policies on laundered money is that, you as a person or an individual must not be aware of the source or history of the money you are receiving and it has to be for the settlement of goods or some service. That would go a long way to justify you in any transaction.

So, either these bad actors use this currency in purchases or payment of service, its clearly not a problem.

[GeorgeJohn]

I also want to accept Bitcoin as payment for the new business since I myself have used few who accepted Bitcoin as payment from me,

If you know about Bitcoin very well and how to secure your bitcoin without it been lost, you can accept Bitcoin as means of payment....bitcoin is a digital currency that is well known...so accepting it as a means of payment is not a bad idea..

We all know that some Bitcoin are called DIRTY or BAD simply because they are stolen and have been tagged already, how will one avoid collecting a bad Bitcoin as payment?

Your paragraph that stipulated " collecting a bad as payment " is not comprehensive, from my perspective...I'm not aware of making payment with bad bitcoin...does bitcoin divide into two? Bad & Good?😆

Is the case of tracing or tracking the bad Bitcoin to my business possible or it's not some to worry about.

You can only be tracked or traced when your client used laundering bitcoin to make payment, and such trace can only happen if it's a big amount of bitcoin that's been transferred to your bitcoin address...that worth millions $.

[Alphakilo]

From reading how some business owners developed their own business payment plans for their customers, the best ways I have seen is to use different addresses for different customers as one.
Set a risk policy that prevents you from lawsuit or liquidation by reviewing the source of the sent Bitcoin.
Lastly, try not to be too friendly with your customers so as to keep your business life and personal pleasure life separate so as to avoid unnecessary being taken advantage of.

I think Bitpay, Coinbase, Strike among others have a buffer function to screen incoming coins before accepting it, so it makes sense to use it for your business and you can use good AML tools that gives you a risk score to either decline or accept payments upon screening.

These are some ways to incorporate and be safe while accepting Bitcoin as payment plans from customers or for purchase of items  payments.

[dansus021]

Well first before start to accepting bitcoin as payment please make sure that your government or existing rule in your area dont have conflit with it, here in Indonesia accepting bitcoin as payment is illegal.

Second what are you going to do with that bitcoin if you just accept it and store it, its hard to notice is that bitcoin is tainted with something fishy or not but if you accept and cash it there are basically ton of payment proccessor like Coinbase merchant or bitpay that do the work for you and you dont need to worry about it

[DiMarxist]

Your company is running as a business entity and so it's assumed that any transaction that you make by accepting Bitcoin as a means of payment methods for the services that you render, is purely on the grounds of business. And I don't think that you will be holding any Bitcoin which you  receives for payment , it will be more advisable that you sell it and convert it to Money because I believe that you will be making so expensis in your business. If the business you are accepting Bitcoin with has nothing to do with crime I don't think that you will have problems accepting Bitcoin whether it's stolen or not. As far as you can prove that you are not connected to stolen Bitcoin.

[Chibit01]

Is the case of tracing or tracking the bad Bitcoin to my business possible or it's not some to worry about.

You can only be tracked or traced when your client used laundering bitcoin to make payment, and such trace can only happen if it's a big amount of bitcoin that's been transferred to your bitcoin address...that worth millions $.

GeorgeJohn what do you mean by laundering bitcoin?  Criminal use other source to launder their stolen coins and not a new shipment company, where the op company can only be in danger is some with a lot of bitcoin which the address have already been blacklisted keep on patronizing the op company over and over again without him realizing, tracing the blacklisted wallet transactions can lead authorities to Op door step, but as far as there are payment prove and provision of service the Op should be safe unless the evidence are not substantial and law enforcement agent don't want to buy the story.

[Alonso_]

Well I don’t think there is anything wrong in accepting bitcoin in your shipping business, well it could be a new development and that would be a very sensitive way of making transactions in your business, but where I don’t understand is that are you just using the bitcoin for transactions, or you would be holding the bitcoin for the future purposes, well there is absolutely nothing wrong with you using bitcoin in your new shipping business because I know there are so many businesses that have adopted that process, right now I’m hearing that Japan are accepting bitcoin for their country transactions.