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"It’s becoming harder to believe fiat cash is a good thing when you see how it allows criminal to move money anonymously." Fixed that for you.
by rootsudo 5y ago
"It’s becoming harder to believe fiat cash is a good thing when you see how it allows criminal to move money anonymously."
Fixed that for you.
- markus_zhang 5y agoI think the problem is the proportion.
- X6S1x6Okd1st 5y agoIt's really not clear that crypto is disproportionately used for criminal activity, in fact there's evidence it might be less commonly used for criminal activity https://www.forbes.com/sites/haileylennon/2021/01/19/the-false-narrative-of-bitcoins-role-in-illicit-activity/?sh=73d08a303432 https://www.forbes.com/sites/haileylennon/2021/01/19/the-fal...
- debrice 5y agoIn proportion, I can’t see 2% of the transactions being done for goods and services (since I can’t think of a place accepting crypto for payment)
- maybe_pablo 5y agoOn the contrary, nowadays you can buy several types of gift cards with crypto[0]. [0] https://www.bitrefill.com/buy/usa https://www.bitrefill.com/buy/usa
- dkersten 5y agoBinance, wirex, crypto.com and others offer credit cards backed by cryptocurrency balances. Sure, technically, they sell the crypto for fiat as you use it, but to the user it’s the same as spending the cryptocurrency directly. And there are at least some online businesses that accept crypto, certainly security focused services like Mulvad and ProtonMail but I’ve occasionally seen it for other SaaS products too, although not too often.
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- doctor_eval 5y agoApart from being a means of exchange, in what way are fiat currencies equivalent to crypto currencies in terms of moving money?
- rocqua 5y agoFiat cash is similarly untraceable and decentralized as crypto currency. That is because it has fungiblity and transactions that aren't censorable.
- wdfh76 5y agothis crypto topic is balls
- doctor_eval 5y agoBut good luck trying to carry a suitcase filled with cash over an international border.
- Retric 5y agoIt’s surprisingly difficult to move around large amounts of fiat money without being caught. Large scale gangs get good at it by necessity, but many people have gotten caught. More importantly the effort to launder money is a major disincentive for criminal activity as it shifts the risk vs reward ratio.
- LogonType10 5y agoAnd if you want to launder crypto, just sell a few NFTs.
- xiphias2 5y agoNot really if the penalty of money laundering is far smaller than the profit. Just look at HSBC. Penalty for it is just the cost of doing business.
- yccs27 5y agoThat is the very different problem of willingness to punish "system-critical" money launderers, versus the ability to detect rogue money launderers. Failure on one problem does not invalidate efforts on the other.
- xiphias2 5y agoWhat is the difference between the two? Organized crime always goes through banking insiders, it just makes sense. That's how high level bankers get rich generally.
- Retric 5y agoMost crime isn’t well organized. Which is why catching outsiders is still quite useful.
- xiphias2 5y agoI’m not so sure about that. In my country (Hungary) actually all big crimes have to go through the prime minister, he’s working together with the national bank and lots of other politicians, bankers and lawyers to steal the EU money that the country gets. Otherwise it’s a peaceful country (that is getting less peaceful as the government steals more of the economy).
- debrice 5y agoThought about that, then realized that we (as in most of us) hardly use cash anymore and cash would also require an in-person exchange. It seems that crypto (by accident, not design) fixes most problems faced by criminal activities
- unclebucknasty 5y ago>It seems that crypto (by accident, not design) fixes most problems faced by criminal activities Why do you assume it's by accident, especially given that it's so perfectly tailored for the use case?
- rocqua 5y agoI presume because it is clear what community bitcoin came from (the cipherpunks). It is obvious that this community would want bitcoin, and it is not a criminal community. Besides, bitcoin isn't tailored perfectly. And the coins that are tailored better mostly seem to have libertarians and people who enjoy the tech building them.
- unclebucknasty 5y ago>it is clear what community bitcoin came from (the cipherpunks). Is it really? >Besides, bitcoin isn't tailored perfectly Well, I said crypto. But BTC has obviously been a preferred currency.
- debrice 5y agoOne could wonder indeed
- petre 5y agoYou'd think? Then why have the US authorities traced crypto to the second individual arrested if it somehow magically fixes criminals' problems?
- unclebucknasty 5y ago
- TrackerFF 5y agoNot really a fair comparison, as moving traditional money becomes harder and harder, to the point where law abiding citizens can get caught in a trap, should they move or handle too large sums incorrectly. And it's going to get much harder. There's a reason for the push to cashless societies.