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"The system has proved popular with online criminals" Citation needed. Are there any stats on where BitCoin are being spent? Everybody says BitCoin could be us

by Tichy 15y ago

"The system has proved popular with online criminals" Citation needed. Are there any stats on where BitCoin are being spent? Everybody says BitCoin could be useful for criminals, but how big is the adoption so far? How much business did Silk Road generate?

gwern 15y ago
There was a comment on the Silk Road forums (in the context of replying to someone wondering whether buying from a seller with 0 reviews was very risky or not) to the effect that the Gawker article had caused SR to jump from a few hundred accounts to over 9000. A decent number, granted, but likely most of them have not engaged in any transactions and never will. On the other hand, another poster mentioned that there is another Bitcoin+Tor market site by the name of BlackMarket (or something), so SR is only part of the picture.
- smbwrs 15y ago
  "...from a few hundred accounts to over 9000." I see what you did there.
  - gwern 15y ago
    No, I was quite serious. I just checked, and the most recent account IDs are actually now in the 15,000 and 16,000s. Seriously people, sometimes 'over 9000' is just a literal statement of truth and not a meme!
timrosenblatt 15y ago
I imagine people thinking that Tony Soprano is sitting in his house, furiously mining BitCoins, while whacking snitches.
praxeologist 15y ago
I have no clue if this one article I happened to pull up is accurate or conspiracy wackiness but it says that banks connected to the CIA pull in $10-15 billion in drug money each year. http://omasiali.wordpress.com/2011/06/08/cia%E2%80%99s-50-years-of-corrupt-drug-trafficking/ http://omasiali.wordpress.com/2011/06/08/cia%E2%80%99s-50-ye... How much do federal/local cops actually steal in drug money each year? Silk Road is a worldwide thing too so it would really have to be compared to the millions that corrupt forces in Mexico and all over the world make each year using the anonymous money system. I think people need to reevaluate who the criminals really are.

by Tichy 15y ago

gwern 15y ago

There was a comment on the Silk Road forums (in the context of replying to someone wondering whether buying from a seller with 0 reviews was very risky or not) to the effect that the Gawker article had caused SR to jump from a few hundred accounts to over 9000. A decent number, granted, but likely most of them have not engaged in any transactions and never will. On the other hand, another poster mentioned that there is another Bitcoin+Tor market site by the name of BlackMarket (or something), so SR is only part of the picture.

smbwrs 15y ago
"...from a few hundred accounts to over 9000." I see what you did there.
- gwern 15y ago
  No, I was quite serious. I just checked, and the most recent account IDs are actually now in the 15,000 and 16,000s. Seriously people, sometimes 'over 9000' is just a literal statement of truth and not a meme!

timrosenblatt 15y ago

I imagine people thinking that Tony Soprano is sitting in his house, furiously mining BitCoins, while whacking snitches.

praxeologist 15y ago

I have no clue if this one article I happened to pull up is accurate or conspiracy wackiness but it says that banks connected to the CIA pull in $10-15 billion in drug money each year. http://omasiali.wordpress.com/2011/06/08/cia%E2%80%99s-50-years-of-corrupt-drug-trafficking/ http://omasiali.wordpress.com/2011/06/08/cia%E2%80%99s-50-ye... How much do federal/local cops actually steal in drug money each year? Silk Road is a worldwide thing too so it would really have to be compared to the millions that corrupt forces in Mexico and all over the world make each year using the anonymous money system. I think people need to reevaluate who the criminals really are.