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> Everyone knows where the real money laundering and terrorist financing happens. > It is done by the likes of HSBC, Standard Chartered and other big banks. T

> Everyone knows where the real money laundering and terrorist financing happens. > It is done by the likes of HSBC, Standard Chartered and other big banks. This used to be the case. And undoubtedly it still goes on. There simply weren’t many other mechanisms to launder money that didn’t involve large banks…until crypto joined the party. Crypto’s most popular feature is speculation, and its second most popular feature is money laundering/capital control evasion. These two probably encompass well in excess of 99% of typical real world use cases.

atq2119 5y ago
By user count (as opposed to volume), ransomware is almost certainly a bigger use case of Bitcoin than money laundering and friends.
- qeternity 5y ago
  Hackers user crypto for ransomware because they can easily launder the ransom payments. It's the same side of the coin.
- Andrew_nenakhov 5y ago
  Do you have sources to back up this claim?
tummybug 5y ago
I would argue its second most popular feature is purchases on dark net markets. This has been a constant theme since bitcoin was first released and I think is always discounted when talking about the currency.
- DrAwdeOccarim 5y ago
  Is there a way to reliably figure out the GDP of dark net markets?
  - Cthulhu_ 5y ago
    Kinda; if the dark net markets have known wallet addresses it can be looked up and analyzed in the blockchain. Or if the other public addresses are known, transactions can be deducted from them.
roenxi 5y ago
There are some things the government can't realistically do. Like taxing oxygen consumption or preventing people thinking things. Or how they have been totally unable to stop tax evasion for thousands of years. I'd be more than happy if controlling capital joined the list of things government just can't do. I think freely flowing capital is going to be good for everyone. Good luck to the crypto community & I'm sure a big chunk of the world trying to get away from unreasonable US sanctions will agree.
- Cthulhu_ 5y ago
  > I think freely flowing capital is going to be good for everyone. The US and 'west' is already financially liberal, so we can make an observation: it is NOT good for everyone. Capital flows freely, but it flows upwards. Trickle-down economics is proven false. Advocating for more liberal finances also means being okay with leaving people behind and in the shit; the unemployed, the homeless, the working poor, the huge percentage of people who constantly live one paycheck or one medical issue away from bankruptcy, the people who work 16 hours a day at multiple jobs and still can't make ends meet, etc etc etc. I mean to rephrase your claim, yeah capital / money should flow freely, but egalitarian. The wealth of an individual should benefit all. The richest countries in the world shouldn't have poverty on an individual level. There shouldn't be a case where a handful of people have more money than half the world population. And I get it, building a space company and launching yourself into space is cool, but that money could also have gone to your employees to lift them out of poverty and insecurity.
  - roenxi 5y ago
    I don't buy the theory that someone else being well off makes me badly off. I also don't buy the theory that someone else being badly off should make me feel bad. Capital controls aren't going to help the unemployed, the homeless, the working poor, the huge percentage of people who constantly live one paycheck or one medical issue away from bankruptcy. Capital controls will make those problems worse; forcing people to make bad decisions with their investments is not the fast track to getting great long term results.

atq2119 5y ago

By user count (as opposed to volume), ransomware is almost certainly a bigger use case of Bitcoin than money laundering and friends.

qeternity 5y ago
Hackers user crypto for ransomware because they can easily launder the ransom payments. It's the same side of the coin.
Andrew_nenakhov 5y ago
Do you have sources to back up this claim?

tummybug 5y ago

I would argue its second most popular feature is purchases on dark net markets. This has been a constant theme since bitcoin was first released and I think is always discounted when talking about the currency.

DrAwdeOccarim 5y ago
Is there a way to reliably figure out the GDP of dark net markets?
- Cthulhu_ 5y ago
  Kinda; if the dark net markets have known wallet addresses it can be looked up and analyzed in the blockchain. Or if the other public addresses are known, transactions can be deducted from them.

roenxi 5y ago

There are some things the government can't realistically do. Like taxing oxygen consumption or preventing people thinking things. Or how they have been totally unable to stop tax evasion for thousands of years. I'd be more than happy if controlling capital joined the list of things government just can't do. I think freely flowing capital is going to be good for everyone. Good luck to the crypto community & I'm sure a big chunk of the world trying to get away from unreasonable US sanctions will agree.

Cthulhu_ 5y ago
> I think freely flowing capital is going to be good for everyone. The US and 'west' is already financially liberal, so we can make an observation: it is NOT good for everyone. Capital flows freely, but it flows upwards. Trickle-down economics is proven false. Advocating for more liberal finances also means being okay with leaving people behind and in the shit; the unemployed, the homeless, the working poor, the huge percentage of people who constantly live one paycheck or one medical issue away from bankruptcy, the people who work 16 hours a day at multiple jobs and still can't make ends meet, etc etc etc. I mean to rephrase your claim, yeah capital / money should flow freely, but egalitarian. The wealth of an individual should benefit all. The richest countries in the world shouldn't have poverty on an individual level. There shouldn't be a case where a handful of people have more money than half the world population. And I get it, building a space company and launching yourself into space is cool, but that money could also have gone to your employees to lift them out of poverty and insecurity.
- roenxi 5y ago
  I don't buy the theory that someone else being well off makes me badly off. I also don't buy the theory that someone else being badly off should make me feel bad. Capital controls aren't going to help the unemployed, the homeless, the working poor, the huge percentage of people who constantly live one paycheck or one medical issue away from bankruptcy. Capital controls will make those problems worse; forcing people to make bad decisions with their investments is not the fast track to getting great long term results.