The implications of bitcoin price from laundering

DannyHamilton

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Quote from: vpitcher07 on February 17, 2014, 08:29:25 AM

I have a hard time believing that's $18 BILLION....

Quote from: DannyHamilton on February 16, 2014, 12:02:35 PM

That depends on if you are using the long scale or the short scale for the word "billion".

Long scale (used in most of continental Europe and Latin America):
1 Billion = 1,000,000,000,000

Short scale (used in most English-speaking countries and Arabic-speaking countries):
1 Billion = 1,000,000,000

Using the short scale, $1 billion (in $100 bills) would take up about 400 cubic feet (11.33 cubic meters). That's a pile of cash about 8 feet wide, 8 feet long, and 6.25 feet tall. You'd need 18 such piles of cash to be $18 billion, so I think you are right, that wasn't $18 billion in that one picture, but I suppose they *might* have found a total of $18 billion (or $22 billion?) throughout the entire house?

Using the long scale, obviously the size of the pile would have to be 1000 times as big. so 400,000 cubic meters (11,327 cubic meters). Clearly, they didn't find that much cash in the house.

vpitcher07

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I have a hard time believing that's $18 BILLION....

davidpbrown

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Vires in Numeris

Quote from: CryptoPanda on February 17, 2014, 07:18:58 AM

Bitcoin is much more seizure-resistant than cash, so I can see the point of view where it might be attractive to drug lords. As soon as their younger minions brief them on this innovation.
I guess they will need some time to get their heads around it but will eventually.

I'm not sure about that.. Bitcoin is not fully anonymous in the way cash is. Perhaps they might look to an alt that does offer that. Potentially they could launder through other coins but I expect dollars will be used by all flavours of criminals for a long while yet. Ban the dollar, I say!

CryptoPanda

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Bitcoin is much more seizure-resistant than cash, so I can see the point of view where it might be attractive to drug lords. As soon as their younger minions brief them on this innovation.
I guess they will need some time to get their heads around it but will eventually.

Armis

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Quote from: keithers on February 16, 2014, 04:20:35 PM

Quote from: davidpbrown on February 16, 2014, 11:20:55 AM

Far more illegal activity is done in dollars - or any other cash currency.
Thinking of cryptocurrency when seeing that, is just your own confusion about the nature of cryptocurrencies.

We all know (or should know), that far more criminal activity is done with cash. I would love to see a chart on how much criminal activity is correlated with USD vs cash from other countries.

sometime USD is created in other countries, actually USD is made is many non-US countries.

at one point it's said North Korea was printing it like they were a US Fed member bank

just google: North Korea printing

or wiki superdollar

davidpbrown

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Quote from: elavenil on February 17, 2014, 05:17:24 AM

Money laundering is serious crime in almost all countries. If criminals start using BTC for money laundering ia not a a good sign for common users.
Countries will ban Bitcoin.

In the same way that they banned the US dollar?.. Bitcoin has far to much legal utility for Governments to ban it; especially in a time of economic downturn, they need every avenue to innovation they can find. Bitcoin is not simply currency, it's a new way to trade and as such will encourage economy. Those stupid enough to stiffle it will suffer relative to those who embrace it.

keithers

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People attempting to money launder through others are at risk of getting their bitcoins stolen by the people laundering their money, unless they are just converting to btc and then just cashing it right back out

elavenil

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Money laundering is serious crime in almost all countries. If criminals start using BTC for money laundering ia not a a good sign for common users.
Countries will ban Bitcoin.

Siegfried

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Someone needs to step up and be the HSBC of bitcoin for the drug cartels.

sunszl

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Although laundering help btc's price pump up a lot, I think the overall effect is negetive.

keithers

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This is the land of wolves now & you're not a wolf

Quote from: davidpbrown on February 16, 2014, 11:20:55 AM

Far more illegal activity is done in dollars - or any other cash currency.
Thinking of cryptocurrency when seeing that, is just your own confusion about the nature of cryptocurrencies.

We all know (or should know), that far more criminal activity is done with cash. I would love to see a chart on how much criminal activity is correlated with USD vs cash from other countries.

DoubleSpending

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If launderers switch to digital currencies, then the market would be flooded with US dollars. So make sure to get out of US dollars before that happens. I can see the value of gold collectable guns decreasing as well as Mexican drug lords sell them for Dogecoin.

DannyHamilton

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Quote from: Sheldor333 on February 16, 2014, 11:27:51 AM

Whoever posted this doesn't have an idea that pile could not be 18 billion dollars as he/she claims. It is impossible. That amount in millions okey but in billions no way. Other than that it is very profitable to be a druglord, we all know that. Grin

That depends on if you are using the long scale or the short scale for the word "billion".

Long scale (used in most of continental Europe and Latin America):
1 Billion = 1,000,000,000,000

Short scale (used in most English-speaking countries and Arabic-speaking countries):
1 Billion = 1,000,000,000

Using the short scale, $1 billion (in $100 bills) would take up about 400 cubic feet (11.33 cubic meters). That's a pile of cash about 8 feet wide, 8 feet long, and 6.25 feet tall. You'd need 18 such piles of cash to be $18 billion, so I think you are right, that wasn't $18 billion in that one picture, but I suppose they *might* have found a total of $18 billion (or $22 billion?) throughout the entire house?

Using the long scale, obviously the size of the pile would have to be 1000 times as big. so 400,000 cubic meters (11,327 cubic meters). Clearly, they didn't find that much cash in the house.

davidpbrown

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Quote from: chakra74 on February 16, 2014, 11:27:41 AM

Really? You honestly think that I'm confused about the nature of cryptocurrencies

I think you're looking for negatives and missing the bleeding obvious that such activity will always be a small fraction of any currency. Go and post on a USD forum, if such activity worries you.. hell go post on the CIA forums for that matter, they instigate drug crime.

Soros Shorts

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Quote from: Sheldor333 on February 16, 2014, 11:27:51 AM

Whoever posted this doesn't have an idea that pile could not be 18 billion dollars as he/she claims. It is impossible. That amount in millions okey but in billions no way. Other than that it is very profitable to be a druglord, we all know that. Grin

I million in Ben Franklins can fit into a 17 inch laptop bag. How may laptop bags would you need to fit that stash?

Sheldor333

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Whoever posted this doesn't have an idea that pile could not be 18 billion dollars as he/she claims. It is impossible. That amount in millions okey but in billions no way. Other than that it is very profitable to be a druglord, we all know that. Grin

chakra74

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Quote from: davidpbrown on February 16, 2014, 11:20:55 AM

Far more illegal activity is done in dollars - or any other cash currency.
Thinking of cryptocurrency when seeing that, is just your own confusion about the nature of cryptocurrencies.

Really? You honestly think that I'm confused about the nature of cryptocurrencies because I see a correlation between billions of dollars being seized and the fact that if the crypto markets were mature that drug lord could of kept it all even after being arrested.

I'm very aware that most illegal activity is done in dollars or other cash currencies. I was merely stating that if you think laundering won't have a massive effect in the future, you're deluding yourself.

davidpbrown

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Far more illegal activity is done in dollars - or any other cash currency.
Thinking of cryptocurrency when seeing that, is just your own confusion about the nature of cryptocurrencies.

chakra74

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Merit: 0

A friend of mine sent me this link today and I immediately thought about cryptocurrencies.

http://imgur.com/a/DYU2e

Read that whole Imgur page. You hear about these things, but seeing this in images really hits home. At the very end it also states that there's believed to be 27 other houses much like this in Mexico.

My reaction was imagine when crytocurrencies in general gain even a basic general acceptance, how much of this money could possibly flow into the market. This particular drug lord also had all that wealth confiscated, and even if he placed 5 percent of that in Bitcoin or another crypto he could of easily held onto a portion of his wealth.

Just this one house alone had three times the whole market for bitcoin stashed in it. This one man could of bought up the whole Bitcoin market and pushed prices through the roof.

When Bitcoin is common knowledge and finally becomes an acceptable store of value by most people, which is at most a few short years away, the consequences to the markets are going to be mind boggling.

Topic: The implications of bitcoin price from laundering (Read 1524 times)