Topic: [2018-08-07] Bitcoin Speculators, Not Drug Dealers, Dominate Crypto Use Now (Read 354 times)

Criminals shifting from bitcoin to monero still means that the whole cryptocurrency still dominates the means of transactions especially in the darkweb. Privacy coins should not be encouraged and should be removed in the blockchain system.

That is because people, in general, have this stereotypical idea that will never get removed easily, but only through time. It is a fact that crypto was used by criminal in the dark web. So, if they were taught about that, they should also be taught that crypto is used for good purposes too.

There are also people who do not know what crypto is.  If you introduce it to them and they take a guess, they will say "Maybe criminal use it to avoid getting tracked. Therefore, it is all about getting these people educated.

It is a fact that crypto was used by criminal in the dark web. So, if they were taught about that, they should also be taught that crypto is used for good purposes too.

but ask anybody on the street and they will tell you that crypto is used by criminals mostly.

If you truly believe that, then you are missing the whole point of Bitcoin: it was started so people can do whatever they want with their money, without anyone else interfering. There's no such thing as "blockchain system", there are peer-to-peer networks that can not be taken down. You can ask exchanges to delist privacy coins, you can ask government to ban them, but you'll never be able to stop them.

I wouldn't equate speculators buying Bitcoin with higher adoption. A good percentage of these speculators do not even know how to set up a bitcoin wallet or how a bitcoin address looks like. They would just buy Contracts-For-Differences or leave their bitcoins on exchanges.
On the positive side, atleast mainstream media acknowledges that drug dealers account for only a small portion of Bitcoin transactions.

Not necessarily. It depends on what you do with your coins. In my opinion, I would call traders people who are actively buying and selling for profit ie trading, whereas speculators are more like long term hodlers who are looking for big gains in the long term.  I wouldn't call myself a trader because I don't really do trades, but I do hold coins as a long term investment and I'm definitely speculating on the value being much higher in the near future than it is right now hence being a speculator.

It's more appropriate if you use "traders" rather than "speculators" as that what we really are.

Why only now? I reckon it has always been that way. Holders, which coins are obtained from buying, trading or mining, are also considered as speculators.

Also, the volumes of bitcoin used in the darknet drug trade were always overestimated by the news media to create FUD.

Criminals shifting from bitcoin to monero still means that the whole cryptocurrency still dominates the means of transactions especially in the darkweb. Privacy coins should not be encouraged and should be removed in the blockchain system.

Criminals shifting from bitcoin to monero still means that the whole cryptocurrency still dominates the means of transactions especially in the darkweb. Privacy coins should not be encouraged and should be removed in the blockchain system.

Criminals have moved on to privacy coins like Monero, although if you take extortion schemes like ransomware, Bitcoin is still used because it's more likely that the victims will pay with it rather than some privacy coin, because it's harder to buy the latter. This has contributed to decrease of the percentage of criminal transactions, but the biggest factor is that other uses cases have increased. What would be actually interesting is the absolute values of illegal transactions per day in early days and today.

I wouldn't equate speculators buying Bitcoin with higher adoption. A good percentage of these speculators do not even know how to set up a bitcoin wallet or how a bitcoin address looks like. They would just buy Contracts-For-Differences or leave their bitcoins on exchanges.
On the positive side, atleast mainstream media acknowledges that drug dealers account for only a small portion of Bitcoin transactions.

Finally a good news for all of us who is waiting for wider adoption! Of course we, on this forum, have known that criminal domination in the crypto market had gone quite some time ago, but ask anybody on the street and they will tell you that crypto is used by criminals mostly. This misinformation is the main hindrance on the way to wider adoption, because most people don't want to be associated with criminals. But if the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration is saying that illegal activity has shrunk to about 10 percent, I think people will believe them.

At least they've come around now and are not just needlessly slandering and smearing bitcoin by highlighting its use by criminals.

Of course, the crypto currency will always be used by criminals and there is no doubt about it. They always use advanced technology for their own purposes. However, now they switch to the use of crypto currency with a high level of anonymity - Monero, ZCash, Dash and others. In this case, bitcoin is used less and less. In this there is nothing surprising or unusual.

I agree, criminals before has a lot of room to work using bitcoin but now different agencies find ways to track those criminals through blockchain analysis. And we all know that bitcoin is not really anonymous and criminals recognized this the hard way. Maybe some of them are still using crypto to hide their illegal activity, but sooner or later the full hands of the law will be knocking at their doors.

The ratio of legal to illegal activity in Bitcoin has flipped, according to Lilita Infante at the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.

When Infante started seeing the Bitcoin pop up in her cases at the DEA five years ago, her analysis of blockchain data showed criminal activity was behind about 90 percent of transactions in the cryptocurrency. Now, illegal activity has shrunk to about 10 percent and speculation has become the dominant driver, she said.

That doesn’t mean criminals stopped using Bitcoin. Total transaction volume associated with illegal uses has surged since 2013, said Infante, who is a DEA special agent and part of the 10-person Cyber Investigative Task Force. The team focuses on dark web and virtual-currency related investigations and collaborates with other Department of Justice units including the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

“The volume has grown tremendously, the amount of transactions and the dollar value has grown tremendously over the years in criminal activity, but the ratio has decreased,’’ she said in an interview at her office in Weston, Florida. “The majority of transactions are used for price speculation.’’

Infante’s findings contradict the popular perception that Bitcoin is mostly being used by criminals such as the notorious Dread Pirate Roberts, but also show that the underground market is one of the biggest groups of people using Bitcoin for its actual features rather than its price gyrations. Transactions are pseudonymous, so not easily traceable, while a decentralized ledger eliminates the need for banks and governments, and also means there’s no company that can be subpoenaed in an investigation.