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Today’s reality is that cryptocurrencies are enabling massive amounts of criminal behavior. ... The lack of effective regulation of crypto assets puts people at

Today’s reality is that cryptocurrencies are enabling massive amounts of criminal behavior. ... The lack of effective regulation of crypto assets puts people at high risk of being manipulated by scammers. We've only gotten the first bitter taste of cryptocurrency-enabled scams like ransomware. The next wave of scams, enabled by apps like Venmo, Robinhood, and others that make it super easy for mainstream populations to hold crypto and transfer real money to random people, will be devastating.

Nextgrid 5y ago
Is this sarcasm? Scams via Venmo and even old school wire transfers are common and law enforcement doesn't particularly care despite transfers being easily traceable.
- pcwalton 5y ago
  Law enforcement absolutely does care about scams via wire transfers, as a search for mail and wire fraud on justice.gov will confirm.
  - Nextgrid 5y ago
    My point is that enforcement is very scarce, otherwise all these phone scams (whether credit card, IRS, tech support) the US is constantly being assaulted with would no longer be so endemic. The argument is that crypto allows criminals to get away therefore let's ban crypto. Well, the real world shows that criminals are equally allowed to get away by conventional payment systems. I'm generally not in favour of banning crypto, but at least they'd have a point if the traditional banking system actually prevented financial crime. It clearly doesn't prevent it anywhere near enough. If anything, the complexity of using crypto for the average user means that a traditional payment system scam will yield more than a crypto scam.
rednerrus 5y ago
Criminal behaviour is the only value add worth anything in cryptocurrency.
- Ekaros 5y ago
  I suppose in some cases it is slightly cheaper way to do international money transfers. And that would be relatively simple problem to solve if world wished to do so.
  - eftychis 5y ago
    Not just cheaper. Also faster and easier. International transfers are mostly in the moving money before PayPal or credit cards era. If you are a private client or institution you might get a few free wires etc. Otherwise pay and wait. And this is not due to red tape. There is little incentive to do better for average Joe clients.

Nextgrid 5y ago

Is this sarcasm? Scams via Venmo and even old school wire transfers are common and law enforcement doesn't particularly care despite transfers being easily traceable.

pcwalton 5y ago
Law enforcement absolutely does care about scams via wire transfers, as a search for mail and wire fraud on justice.gov will confirm.
- Nextgrid 5y ago
  My point is that enforcement is very scarce, otherwise all these phone scams (whether credit card, IRS, tech support) the US is constantly being assaulted with would no longer be so endemic. The argument is that crypto allows criminals to get away therefore let's ban crypto. Well, the real world shows that criminals are equally allowed to get away by conventional payment systems. I'm generally not in favour of banning crypto, but at least they'd have a point if the traditional banking system actually prevented financial crime. It clearly doesn't prevent it anywhere near enough. If anything, the complexity of using crypto for the average user means that a traditional payment system scam will yield more than a crypto scam.

rednerrus 5y ago

Criminal behaviour is the only value add worth anything in cryptocurrency.

Ekaros 5y ago
I suppose in some cases it is slightly cheaper way to do international money transfers. And that would be relatively simple problem to solve if world wished to do so.
- eftychis 5y ago
  Not just cheaper. Also faster and easier. International transfers are mostly in the moving money before PayPal or credit cards era. If you are a private client or institution you might get a few free wires etc. Otherwise pay and wait. And this is not due to red tape. There is little incentive to do better for average Joe clients.