4 ms·

270 Addresses are responsible for 55% of all cryptocurrency money laundering

35 points by belltaco 6y ago

ggm 6y ago
Forgive a possibly naieve question, but is this not prima facie evidence to a jury, of a link to the criminal act? I mean, if its that few, surely this is tractable for LEA action? pseudonymous does not mean anonymous. Nor (I would think) does the coin have to emerge into real world currency for causal chains to become strong evidence of linkage. Do some microtransacts, see the money wind up in the place, then find the people behind the wallet, by unrelated info eg when they "spend" it on you (browser grabs, other paths) Seriously, this feels like an entirely tractable path to work on, and close off. (not that Visa/Mastercard couldn't have shut down the CC scams going on either)
whatyesaid 6y ago
I wonder why Bitcoin still has its place on the throne. I mean you've got privacy coins, you'd think individuals + corporations + criminals would all be in favour of that. Then again, corporations typically use an intermediary.
- lordnacho 6y ago
  Criminals also run large, slow organisations prone to conservatism and groupthink.
- tootahe45 6y ago
  Network effects. If you're a darkweb seller you know most people want to send BTC they purchased straight from a KYC'd exchange, this is preferable as any extra friction is bad for business. You would lose 70% of your customers if you only accepted monero, which has been delisted from any exchange with a fiat gateway. You can always switch the funds into Monero later on anyway to save your own privacy. Your customers being pwned for using non-privacy coins doesn't matter, so long as they only lead back to your darkweb nickname.
  - boring_twenties 6y ago
    > which has been delisted from any exchange with a fiat gateway. False, see kraken.com
- tinus_hn 6y ago
  What prevents you from anonymously exchanging bitcoins for privacy coins?
Proven 6y ago
Until I read Tim Swanson's blog post yesterday I didn't know that Blockstream runs Bitcoin mining services, helping increase the concentration of mining in terms of DC locations (something they supposedly were against, before the block size battle). Meanwhile these guys (Chainalysis) help the government hunt down Bitcoin users. I don't have a problem with that as far as outright criminals are concerned, but it's not just that - does anyone think the IRS doesn't buy their services? And many other early Bitcoin pioneers work for crypto startups that work with Bitcoin but in a direction that is contrary to what Satoshi and others wanted to achieve. It took only a decade to get here. Sad!

35 points by belltaco 6y ago

ggm 6y ago

Forgive a possibly naieve question, but is this not prima facie evidence to a jury, of a link to the criminal act? I mean, if its that few, surely this is tractable for LEA action? pseudonymous does not mean anonymous. Nor (I would think) does the coin have to emerge into real world currency for causal chains to become strong evidence of linkage. Do some microtransacts, see the money wind up in the place, then find the people behind the wallet, by unrelated info eg when they "spend" it on you (browser grabs, other paths) Seriously, this feels like an entirely tractable path to work on, and close off. (not that Visa/Mastercard couldn't have shut down the CC scams going on either)

whatyesaid 6y ago

I wonder why Bitcoin still has its place on the throne. I mean you've got privacy coins, you'd think individuals + corporations + criminals would all be in favour of that. Then again, corporations typically use an intermediary.

lordnacho 6y ago
Criminals also run large, slow organisations prone to conservatism and groupthink.
tootahe45 6y ago
Network effects. If you're a darkweb seller you know most people want to send BTC they purchased straight from a KYC'd exchange, this is preferable as any extra friction is bad for business. You would lose 70% of your customers if you only accepted monero, which has been delisted from any exchange with a fiat gateway. You can always switch the funds into Monero later on anyway to save your own privacy. Your customers being pwned for using non-privacy coins doesn't matter, so long as they only lead back to your darkweb nickname.
- boring_twenties 6y ago
  > which has been delisted from any exchange with a fiat gateway. False, see kraken.com
tinus_hn 6y ago
What prevents you from anonymously exchanging bitcoins for privacy coins?

Proven 6y ago

Until I read Tim Swanson's blog post yesterday I didn't know that Blockstream runs Bitcoin mining services, helping increase the concentration of mining in terms of DC locations (something they supposedly were against, before the block size battle). Meanwhile these guys (Chainalysis) help the government hunt down Bitcoin users. I don't have a problem with that as far as outright criminals are concerned, but it's not just that - does anyone think the IRS doesn't buy their services? And many other early Bitcoin pioneers work for crypto startups that work with Bitcoin but in a direction that is contrary to what Satoshi and others wanted to achieve. It took only a decade to get here. Sad!