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I don't see why selling BTC in SilkRoad is illegal. How so? by association with other things that happen there? By that standard working for the government woul

by muyuu 13y ago

I don't see why selling BTC in SilkRoad is illegal. How so? by association with other things that happen there? By that standard working for the government would make you a criminal.

nazgulnarsil 13y ago
+1, and anything the DEA does should be presumed bullshit until proven otherwise.
sirsar 13y ago
Money laundering is illegal, not necessarily selling BTC on the silk road.
- muyuu 13y ago
  From all the reports I've seen, they seem to be equating the selling of BTC with money laundering. No other activity related to money laundering is being reported.
  - dragonwriter 13y ago
    > From all the reports I've seen, they seem to be equating the selling of BTC with money laundering. You've seen poor reports, then; specifically, you haven't seen either the actual Justice department press release or the criminal complain, both of which have been both linked and excerpted in this thread. > No other activity related to money laundering is being reported. Actually, the money laundering activity being reported is the official of the exchange responsible for AML compliance advising a user who -- by that officials own description -- he had reason to suspect was engaging in criminal activity on how to structure transactions to avoid anti-money-laundering flagging, and that user actually so structuring transactions. Selling bitcoins wasn't money laundering -- it was the basis of the separate charge of operating an unlicensed money transmission business.
bashcoder 13y ago
It's illegal operate an unlicensed currency exchange, and it's illegal for a licensed exchange to knowingly facilitate illicit transactions. If a licensed exchange even suspects illicit activity, it must report it. Using financial transactions such as these in order to obfuscate and conceal illegal activity is money laundering. In this case, the guy whose job it was to report the activity as Chief Compliance Officer was materially involved in the illicit activity itself. According to the complaint, he was even a SR drug customer, so there's no way he can feign ignorance as to what was going on at SR.

by muyuu 13y ago

I don't see why selling BTC in SilkRoad is illegal. How so? by association with other things that happen there? By that standard working for the government would make you a criminal.

nazgulnarsil 13y ago

+1, and anything the DEA does should be presumed bullshit until proven otherwise.

sirsar 13y ago

Money laundering is illegal, not necessarily selling BTC on the silk road.

muyuu 13y ago
From all the reports I've seen, they seem to be equating the selling of BTC with money laundering. No other activity related to money laundering is being reported.
- dragonwriter 13y ago
  > From all the reports I've seen, they seem to be equating the selling of BTC with money laundering. You've seen poor reports, then; specifically, you haven't seen either the actual Justice department press release or the criminal complain, both of which have been both linked and excerpted in this thread. > No other activity related to money laundering is being reported. Actually, the money laundering activity being reported is the official of the exchange responsible for AML compliance advising a user who -- by that officials own description -- he had reason to suspect was engaging in criminal activity on how to structure transactions to avoid anti-money-laundering flagging, and that user actually so structuring transactions. Selling bitcoins wasn't money laundering -- it was the basis of the separate charge of operating an unlicensed money transmission business.

bashcoder 13y ago

It's illegal operate an unlicensed currency exchange, and it's illegal for a licensed exchange to knowingly facilitate illicit transactions. If a licensed exchange even suspects illicit activity, it must report it. Using financial transactions such as these in order to obfuscate and conceal illegal activity is money laundering. In this case, the guy whose job it was to report the activity as Chief Compliance Officer was materially involved in the illicit activity itself. According to the complaint, he was even a SR drug customer, so there's no way he can feign ignorance as to what was going on at SR.