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It is hardly untraceable. I hear Bitcoin advocates frequently claim that government has an interest in "shutting down Bitcoin", but compared to the all-cash in
by ewoodrich 13y ago
It is hardly untraceable.
I hear Bitcoin advocates frequently claim that government has an interest in "shutting down Bitcoin", but compared to the all-cash industry of most organized crime, Bitcoin's pseudonymity is law enforcement's dream come true. A state actor would merely have to obtain the identity of one key in a series of transactions on the blockchain, and would gain far more information than any informant could provide. Sure, mixers and other methods could obfuscate this, but it's not like 7/11 tracks serials of hundred dollar bills, so the blockchain by definition is richer source of transaction data.
Full disclosure: I believe strongly in the concept of crypto currencies and Bitcoin, but do not own any coins/alt at the moment.
(Modified repost from dead original thread)
- rtpg 13y agoOne thing that someone noted is that for a seller of illicit goods, bitcoin is better than paper in that with dollar bills you have to physically pick them up at one point. With bitcoin, sure you can trace coins, but laundering services (namely things like exchanges) can make you disappear a bit quicker. Overall, though, bitcoin is the IRS' dream.
- samstave 13y agoI love the idea that bitcoin is the beta test for a global cryptocurrency to replace all money in the future and it is created by the government to test this form of currency. They will regulate all transactions/exchanges and will be able to trace the life of every coin.
- mzs 13y agoAlternatively a seller gets paid in something else relatively valuable that they sell or trade later such as liquid laundry detergent.
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- nwh 13y agoHyperbole. Bitcoin is presented in some media as an "anonymous" "untracable" currency, but it's really neither. (Repost from dead original thread)
- draugadrotten 13y ago> Bitcoin's pseudonymity is law enforcement's dream come true. A state actor would merely have to obtain the identity of one key in a series of transactions on the blockchain, and would gain far more information than any informant could provide. This is true. Bitcoin transactions has already been used as evidence in Sweden. In 2013 bitcoin transactions were evidence in at least 6 drug cases alone. (Source: http://translate.google.com/translate?sl=sv&tl=ru&js=n&prev=_t&hl=sv&ie=UTF-8&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.dn.se%2Fekonomi%2Fkriminella-koper-droger-med-bitcoin%2F&act=url http://translate.google.com/translate?sl=sv&tl=ru&js=n&prev=...)
- sexmonad 13y agoIt's true. The blockchain is at best pseudoanonymous. If you are careful about how you get your coins, and use a high latency mixer (which don't exist as far as I know, but can be faked by multiple runs through a low latency mixer) and take your profits out slowly, you can make them quite anonymous. While they are a richer stream of data that a purely cash business, they don't have the same hassles (mostly physical size and security issues) as cash.
- btcfn 13y agoBitcoin can be untraceable. All you have to do is mix dirty money with clean money and split them. No way to tell which pieces are dirty, which ones are clean. Most likely you don't even need to do that. Nothing would stop you from selling stolen money on LocalBitcoins. All outsiders will see is money moving from wallet A to wallet B and no way to find out who the owner is.
- trafficlight 13y agoBlockchain anonymity is what Darkcoin is aiming to solve. Beta tests are currently ongoing on what they call Darksend, a method of anonymously transferring money between wallets. http://darkcoin.io/ http://darkcoin.io/