Bitcoin: Money Laundering Answer For Criminals

Do Criminals Have it Easier Since The Advent of Bitoin? 

Today's Letter is B

The Feds never did get Al Capone for all the murders they suspected him of which included the 1929 Saint Valentine's Day Massacre nor the umpteen counts of bribery or extortion. They never could nail him for any of the organized crime dealings he was accused of. What eventually brought Capone down: Tax evasion

 Why is that? Even back then laundering dirty money was a difficult task.

Let's jump ahead to the year 2016 with modern day technology at the hands of law enforcement and imagine how difficult it must be for criminals to launder their cash. They can't very well tote around suitcases full of cold, hard, heavy cash.

Techno growth offers offers law enforcement and criminals a host of new opportunities. Law enforcement is constantly working to stay one step ahead of the bad guys. Law enforcement is however bound by certain rules/law. Bad guys are not.

Modern Criminals Can't Live Without:

Bitcoin

Until the inception of virtual currency, major criminals from drug dealers to mafia kingpin to hit men carried out their transactions in cash. They had to fly under the radar of both the police and the IRS.

Along comes Bitcoin which made all of those problems seemingly go away.

Bitcoin is a virtually untraceable digital currency also know as the first crypto-currency.  Bitcoin is used for legitimate purchases and is widely accepted in many places such as Amazon, Overstock, Target, CVS, Victoria Secret, Reddit Wordpress, Paypal/Ebay/ Apple's App Store and more it's also accepted at places such as The Pirate Bay which is self described as a BitTorrent Directory (more on Bit Torrents with letter D - Dark or Deep Web) Warning **** research for this post a bit frightening ... and other sites that are equally disturbing and morally questionably just by skimming the literature. See Bit Coin Values

So while Bitcoins have a legitimate use, the darker, illegal usage seem to far outweigh the legal use. Check your country or state for the specific law. There is also the issue of reporting the income to the IRS. Bitcoin is a bit like gold. The value depends on how much people want it. At one time it was extremely high. With the take down of Dread Pirate Robert's, (Ross Ulbricht's on line black market place Silk Road, the value of Bitcoin has drastically decreased.

This information is intended for the A to Z Challenge and is not in any way offered as legal advice. It is for entertainment purposes only.

Don't forget to visit as many 2016 A to Z blogs as you can each day during the challenge.