3 ms·

Seems pretty consistently used in drug trading nowadays.

LyndsySimon 9y ago
Obligatory: "Dollars are still used far more often for buying drugs than Bitcoin" That said, evasion of governmental restrictions is and always has been a core use case for Bitcoin. While that's not my primary concern I don't see that as a negative.
- 2_listerine_pls 9y ago
  Obviously meant to say mainly.
  - LyndsySimon 9y ago
    I see no evidence to support the statement "Bitcoin is mainly used in drug trading these days." I do see some mild counter-evidence. There were two very large dark-net markets that were shut down recently, and the price of Bitcoin didn't seem to respond.
    - free_everybody 9y ago
      That's probably because most people see drug markets as a completely replaceable service. Silk Road down? Use AlphaBay. AlphaBay down? Use something else. It's so profitable to run these markets that the odds of someone developing a newer, better version are guaranteed.
- yebyen 9y ago
  > evasion of governmental restrictions ... core use case for Bitcoin I think you're absolutely right, with the caveat that... Yes, just because people are coming to Bitcoin with this in mind, does not mean that ultimately Bitcoin is successful at that use case. Graphs like this coin flow graph[1] and the story[2] that goes with it, make claims that Bitcoin users can more successfully evade government restrictions, seem particularly dubious. Coinbase, a licensed Money Service business, follows Know Your Customer and grows increasingly interested in their customers. I recently had to answer a follow-up survey about how I use Bitcoin and where my income is coming from, in order to withdraw less than $1000. It would have been pretty easy to lie on this survey (and the questions were particularly non-invasive) but there's not really any doubt in my mind that Bitcoin is a platform where the users can be tracked. We're running out of examples of major Bitcoin heists that went unsolved. Bitcoin is absolutely more trackable than cash, and in a lot of cases (although maybe not so much for "tracking users" who are associated with governments, that already likely do have access to databases which the rest of us don't... but for the unprivileged anonymous internet users who are interested in tracking) Bitcoin is significantly more transparent and even more trackable than the banking system. [1]: http://wizsec.jp/images/theft_flow.svg http://wizsec.jp/images/theft_flow.svg [2]: http://blog.wizsec.jp/2017/07/breaking-open-mtgox-1.html http://blog.wizsec.jp/2017/07/breaking-open-mtgox-1.html
- jbmorgado 9y ago
  > "Obligatory: "Dollars are still used far more often for buying drugs than Bitcoin"" Sure, but let's compare apples to apples and compare the percentage of USD being used daily for buying illegal drugs (and other illegal) products with the percentage of Bitcoin being used daily for the same purpose.

Obligatory: "Dollars are still used far more often for buying drugs than Bitcoin" That said, evasion of governmental restrictions is and always has been a core use case for Bitcoin. While that's not my primary concern I don't see that as a negative.

2_listerine_pls 9y ago
Obviously meant to say mainly.
- LyndsySimon 9y ago
  I see no evidence to support the statement "Bitcoin is mainly used in drug trading these days." I do see some mild counter-evidence. There were two very large dark-net markets that were shut down recently, and the price of Bitcoin didn't seem to respond.
  - free_everybody 9y ago
    That's probably because most people see drug markets as a completely replaceable service. Silk Road down? Use AlphaBay. AlphaBay down? Use something else. It's so profitable to run these markets that the odds of someone developing a newer, better version are guaranteed.
yebyen 9y ago
> evasion of governmental restrictions ... core use case for Bitcoin I think you're absolutely right, with the caveat that... Yes, just because people are coming to Bitcoin with this in mind, does not mean that ultimately Bitcoin is successful at that use case. Graphs like this coin flow graph[1] and the story[2] that goes with it, make claims that Bitcoin users can more successfully evade government restrictions, seem particularly dubious. Coinbase, a licensed Money Service business, follows Know Your Customer and grows increasingly interested in their customers. I recently had to answer a follow-up survey about how I use Bitcoin and where my income is coming from, in order to withdraw less than $1000. It would have been pretty easy to lie on this survey (and the questions were particularly non-invasive) but there's not really any doubt in my mind that Bitcoin is a platform where the users can be tracked. We're running out of examples of major Bitcoin heists that went unsolved. Bitcoin is absolutely more trackable than cash, and in a lot of cases (although maybe not so much for "tracking users" who are associated with governments, that already likely do have access to databases which the rest of us don't... but for the unprivileged anonymous internet users who are interested in tracking) Bitcoin is significantly more transparent and even more trackable than the banking system. [1]: http://wizsec.jp/images/theft_flow.svg http://wizsec.jp/images/theft_flow.svg [2]: http://blog.wizsec.jp/2017/07/breaking-open-mtgox-1.html http://blog.wizsec.jp/2017/07/breaking-open-mtgox-1.html
jbmorgado 9y ago
> "Obligatory: "Dollars are still used far more often for buying drugs than Bitcoin"" Sure, but let's compare apples to apples and compare the percentage of USD being used daily for buying illegal drugs (and other illegal) products with the percentage of Bitcoin being used daily for the same purpose.