There are several main arguments against cryptocurrency adoption, however, one is much more ridiculous than the others...
Which one am I talking about?
The one where you hear people saying that bitcoin and cryptocurrencies should be made illegal because they are often used to finance terrorism, drug trafficking, and other illicit activities.
You know, the one where people say bitcoin is evil because it can be used for nefarious activities.
But guess what, the US dollar funds far more of those kinds of activities than just about any other means of transcation, does that mean the dollar should be made illegal or banned as well?
By that line or thinking, yes!
To expand on that a bit, one of the main arguments as to why people have been using bitcoin to transact in nefarious activities is because of the anonymity of it all.
While that may sound true on first thought, lets think about that for a second.
When there is a transaction done on a blockchain, which is basically a public ledger, there is most certainly a trail. A digital foot print.
While it may be true that the users can use fake names and pseudonyms, the foot print remains.
To expand on that, check out a quote from regulators:
"The beauty of Bitcoin, from a detective’s point of view, is that the blockchain records all. If you catch a dealer with drugs and cash on the street, you’ve caught them committing one crime, but if you catch people using something like Silk Road, you’ve uncovered their whole criminal history. It’s like discovering their books.”
Compare that to say, something like cash.
Transactions done in dollars are not traceable. Once it moves from one party to the next there is no record of that ever happening, at least not one that lasts on a blockchain ledger forever.
That being said, it is more difficult to move large amounts of cash than it is to move large amounts of bitcoins, but that brings me to my next point.
While there may be some anonymity with a transaction of a virtual currency, it becomes much more difficult to actually turn that cryptocurrency into whatever your local fiat currency is.
This is due to all the increased verification standards that exchanges have been implementing over the last year, which only get tougher as the amount of money wanting to be moved grows larger.
It's not impossible to circumvent these standards, but it gets more difficult.
Then you factor in the tracing of IP addresses, which is not completely possible at first, however, when you start to notice patterns of transactions coming from a certain address, you can start to zero in on exactly where that bitcoin might have come from.
Take this exercept from regulators as an example:
"If the data flowing through the network were perfectly coordinated, with everyone’s computer sending and receiving data as frequently as the rest, then it might be impossible to link Bitcoin addresses with IP addresses. But there is no top-down coordination of the Bitcoin network, and its flow is far from perfect. Sometimes a computer sends out information about only one transaction, meaning that the person at that IP address was the owner of that Bitcoin address. And sometimes a surge of transactions come from a single IP address—probably when the user was upgrading his or her Bitcoin client software. Those transactions hold the key to a whole backlog of their Bitcoin addresses. Like unraveling a ball of string, once some of the addresses are isolated, others follow."
For more on that, check out this link:
http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2016/03/why-criminals-cant-hide-behind-bitcoin
Therefore, if it's not impossible to be completely anonymous, it is much more difficult than people make it out to be.
Your response to these claims:
For these reasons, the next time you hear someone say that bitcoin and cryptocurrencies should be made illegal because they are used to finance illegal activities and are completely anonymous...
Just tell em that cash finances many more illicit activities and has been doing so for the last 200+ years.
That and using cash is actually a much better way to stay completely anonymous versus using bitcoin...
Stay informed my friends.
Sources:
http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2016/03/why-criminals-cant-hide-behind-bitcoin
Image Sources:
http://insidebitcoins.com/news/bitcoin-is-not-anonymous-and-lacks-privacy/32945
http://www.cryptosquad.co.uk/bit-coin/how-to-demonstrate-that-bitcoin-is-not-anonymous/
Follow me: @jrcornel
Chase that jrcornel down and ask him why he is calling out the hypocrisy of the fiat folks? You could be in trouble for pointing out an obvious truth.
The anti-crypto crowd will be coming after you for highlighting this critical point.
Way to go !!! jrcornel. Keep it up
DaveB
Jrcornel bro i like your work
So creative post no doubt
I love it
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I get frustrated explaining it to people after a while. lol some ppl just don't get it!!
Bitcoin behaves more like a "stock" than it does like a "currency" and I think that is it's biggest barrier to being accepted as a means of payment.
If I'm Amazon.com, why would I accept Bitcoin as payment when it could easily lose 20% of it's value with nothing more than Jamie Effing Dimond holding a press conference? It's way to volatile for any retail giant to have to deal with. Furthermore, why doesn't Amazon accept shares of APPL, GOOG, or MSFT as payment? When you think about it, it's really not that different.
Not FUD, just common sense questions.
@jrcornel - I agree. A currency, by itself, can not be termed good or evil. A recent example was seen in India where the government introduced a ban on higher denomination notes almost overnight and one of the stated intentions was that older high denomination notes were used by terror organizations and were being duplicated in large amounts. Lo and behold, withing 3-4 days of note ban, the new notes were discovered too in terror camps! The currency, by itself can not enable or stop anything is the morale of the story
Though a newbie in crypto, I am a Steem loyalist now and even have a 147 year plan to earn 1 Million SBD as I have mentioned in my recent post. LOL
Thanks for this thought provoking article. Upvoted full.
Regards,
@vm2904
I wish you luck over the next 147 years. :)
Thanks. Lol - Per my post, I have already made my 1 million SBD and invented the time machine to travel back to this moment so that I can enjoy the company of great thinkers on Steemit. :)
@jrcornell - very true of course but you're preaching to the choir here. Unfortunately those who need to understand this will never see it or not see it until it's too late.
The actual biggest hurdle to it's adoption at this point is lack of usability. The regulators requiring KYC and AML plug the dam of equity leak from a very corrupt banking system. It will slow this down, perhaps just long enough for bitcoin or some other altcoins to scale enough to take over. It's a matter of time.
This has always been used by authorities as a 'danger' of bitcoin etc. As you clearly articulate, a concept should not be banned simply because it has the capacity to be used for bad. It is the bad action that is illegal and not the ability to conduct it. If everything that 'could' be used for illegal activities was banned, very few legal activities would take place as they would not be possible! They need a better argument than that.
Nice article. Thanks
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If people don't want to learn or beeing a part of the changing world, new things (everything after their puberty) will be rejected.
Intangible goods are scary for them, because they can't touch these goods. E.g. in Germany old people often only use cash because these plastic cards are 'some new bullshit' they can't or don't want to understand.
Kryptos are the newest 'financial innovation' and more currently living people are to old (= to scary) to understand.
Learn every day, be a part of the changing world! :)
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People don't support what they don't understand and they relate with stupid reasons like that, in my opinion this is good because the grow will be steady and people will slowly realize the potential of blockchain technology.
Thanks for sharing
It is a common secret, its :
I hate it when I hear someone on TV bring up the whole illicit activities situation with Bitcoin.
It is super annoying for sure.
Those in power will seek to remain in power so they will try to use whatever excuse they can to attempt to get rid of this if they feel they should.
We just need some states to step up and say that Bitcoin is legal tender without having to pay capital gains tax just like Arizona did with Gold.
https://arizonadailyindependent.com/2017/05/23/signed-by-the-governor-arizona-law-treats-gold-and-silver-as-money/
Yes! It's only a matter of time until some state or country switches to crypto. Central banks will cry, but HODLERS will cry victory!
Agreed. Its not the currency, its the people who do an evil use of it. Fighting coins due to this fact is like going for the symptoms without a heal. You can do everything (even better) with cash money and even tho they try to fight it, it does have more negative impact for those who use it not for illegal than the actual criminals.
This is one of, if not the, dumbest argument I ever heard in my life.
Let us look at the facts:
Bitcoin market cap...about $100B
Bernie Madoff scam..roughly $60B in USD.
One ponzi scheme is about 60% of the entire value of bitcoin.
And we arent even going into the bankster led mortgage back security scam that costs institutions and people trillions.
But yeah, let's focus upon the few isolated areas where bitcoin is used for illegal activities.
Smokes screens, idiots shouting and other idiots listening to them. I think that sums up the problem
Cryptocurrencies are unstoppable
The bankers will say anything to keep their grip on the money supply. It's been too long that these assholes have had a stranglehold on our monetary system. Their scared of cryptos and they should be I hope it takes down the central banking system. F*** the rothchilds
The constant criticism of cryptocurrencies is part of what creates its strength. It is so high profile, that there are a lot of people nitpicking at the details and analyzing the possibilities of failure.
That said, this only gives cryptocurrencies a clear chance to show the public what it is capable of. The constant poking at its legitimacy requires the community to stay resilient and prove that the future of cryptocurrency will be bright.
Satoshi found a real gem of an idea with their basis for the blockchain, one that is strong enough to be still growing even after 10 years of criticism and market crashes.
As the community behind cryptocurrency, we need to keep hodling on and show the public that cryptocurrencies are here to stay!
Agreed
I've heard a lot:
"you put your money in bitcoin and you don't know where it goes, but you put your money in the bank and you know where it goes .."
lol.
That sounds like an argument against banks to me, I know where it goes and how the greedy pigs use It and I wish no part of it!
@jrcornel as ever - you are cutting through the BS and making good points.
I think that people are generally fearful of what they don't understand. Arguments against bitcoin are not even that complicated. People do not want the status quo to be disrupted and therefore will definitely try and fearmonger about security, anonymity etc.
Let me know your thoughts on my recent blog post - I a think that Bitcoin's boom effectively means the end for altcoins in the next few months.
Alex
beg beg respect for me
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nice bro
fallow me
Yes
Nice post and absolutely agree. Upvoted.
It's just a play on emotions of the masses. It is something like somebody would say "Internet should be made illegal because it can spread child pornography". Just spreading the fear and waiting for people to catch on that.
The problem with most people is that the majority of their information is highly dependent on rumors and fake news. My god! And what's worse is that they are taking these hook, line, and sinker. Everything is treated as real news. And much worse is that they are spreading the same rumors and fake news to their friends and acquaintances.
The "because criminals/terrorists use it" argument is always a weak one. Should we ban online ads and bots because criminals commit click fraud with that combination? Or what about when terrorists capture oil fields - should oil be banned? But yes, I often use the most direct counter you highlighted, which is that legal currency funds way more illegal activity.
Plenty of wars being fought in the name of religion, we should make them illigal and make the world a better place, makes much more sense than banning bitcoin becouse a few drug dealers use it.
informative (y)
Fiat currencies can more easily use for these negative activities... Not crypto currencies...
Great points... there is a permanent record with bitcoin even though there is some ability to be anonymous, with cash, there are no records so I can bet detectives would rather illicit activities be done using bitcoin rather than cash.
I think so as well. They are getting better at figuring out ways to pinpoint IP address from bitcoin transactions.
yea cash is the facilitator of a lot evil in the world. they are just haters is all.
Know more about bitcoin & block chain technology.
https://steemit.com/blockchain/@vnyrox/everything-you-should-know-about-blockchain
Follow for more @vnyrox
@minboot resteem this Post .
Follow me to Resteem!
You got solid arguments, as usual. Thank you for defeating Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies!
That was constructive @jrcornel, I mean you have good point .
I hear that alot. For me I seens fear and doubts for this claims.. Is obvious of how the blockchain works and with proper investigation it would be easy to catch any criminal activities. People are sacred of change and not everyone is open minded to accept new development and this is one reason many are left out... Some fear that with #Cryptocurrency becoming more and and more welcomed they will have no place in the word. But this is not entirely true.
Btc btc
Thanks for the information I have only been with Steemit three weeks, therefore, I appreciate it all the information I can get on Crypto currency.
Thanks a lot!!
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I like the crypto bitcoin.... I am playing free bitcoin for one plafon bitcoin.
Good post. It's all about using fear tactics to sczre people
Thanks for the nice article @jrcornel. It's some embrace the cryptocurrency as an evolution of money. And of course, some reject it with endless vicious attacks.
nice bro
beg respect for me
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Once people start understanding cryptocurrencies better they won't say such things.
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I do not want to upload a picture yet but thanks anyway.
Ok thanks for your reply.
great post thank you. my thoughts exactly, upvoted and followed.
pass the salt
I try to act "dumb" when talking to people about Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies. This is due to the fact I want to hear what they have to say first. Ive known, for some time, the power Bitcoin and Cryptos have. I agree with you on how the "Dollar" or cash in general fund many corrupt businesses today. Cash is very very hard to trace, therefore making it way more efficient to be used in illegal ways. I also notice many people think Bitcoin is Sketchy. I feel like this is because they lack knowledge on this topic.for anyone who is skeptical and reading this... All I can say is do your research before jumping to conclusion.
Keep posting interesting content! U GOT MY FOLLOW !
@goddaily
We will continue betting on thecryptos! Follow you @gameofcryptos
I believe that Cryptocurrency IS the future and one got to be in it. However, it is not just about Bitcoin at all but there are many other valuable options that need to be looked at and appreciated. I find one such breath-taking option in DFS, which is wonderful with so much to gain from due to the popular. It right now values so low that is absolutely certain to benefit with even 30% discount available. Their whole fantasy sports platform concept is equally special and makes it all work superbly. So, I certainly have my bet on them! http://www.digitalfantasysports.com/
I don't know why people rush to say how many bad parts Bitcoin does... except banks, they are threatened :)) But the rest? Why not enjoy the profits and the tech around BTC and Altcoins...
I think one of the major problems with people not adopting or accepting cryptocurrencies is a general lack of knowledge surrounding the topic. People are generally fearful of the unknown, and cryptocurrencies are one of the biggest unknowns to the public that has a way of completely distorting their current way of life.
For the general public to become more accepting of cryptos, they will also have to become more aware of what they are. Knowledge and education are cryptocurrencies strongest allies.
Great post my friend, as this furthers knowledge and promotes discussion.
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People use BTC as the thing they love to hate... The USD also fluctuates in value as periods of inflation occur, just not on the same scale as BTC. The difference is the level of adoption from users. Prices will stabilize as soon as its users do. I'm just happy because holding BTC at all is definitely more of an upper hand than not.
Hmmm Good Post Keep It Up
Excellent post, cash is difficult to trace. Anyway criminals will just store cryptocurrencies on hardware wallets and give a third party to complete the deal.
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There may another reason. Governments just can't stand any type of currency that they can't take away from you. If they can't steal it, it's of no use to them.
Unless people get out of the "this is for investment," mindset, any type of currency is useless. Currency, crypto or otherwise, should be portable, easily used, and easily converted into local currency, or be accepted as something better than local currency.
Imagine taking your steem dollars, or lite coins, or bitcoins and using them to buy a book, a cup of coffee, or even a pair of jeans.
I would love to be able to spend my steem on gas for my car, or a coke at sonic, or a burger at Whataburger.
Wow, Your Post is Wonderful, Thnx for sharing :)
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Your post is very good. great article.Thanks for sharing.