An agent of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration has noted that Bitcoin's role in crimes has dropped to just 10 percent of transactions, while transactions themselves have "Grown tremendously," Bloomberg reports August 7.
In an interview, DEA special agent Lilita Infante - who is a member of the 10-person Cyber Investigative Task Force - said that the ratio of legitimate to illegitimate Bitcoin transactions had flipped over the past five years, noting.
"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."
The concept of criminals turning to cryptocurrency as an alternative to cash has traditionally formed a central argument used by those critical of Bitcoin's future.
Regulators too have set about tackling the perceived usage of cryptocurrency for illicit purposes, often associated with terrorism and money laundering.
As Bitcoin's popularity has grown it is now legitimate trading which forms the overwhelming majority of activity, with Infante noting that the "Majority of transactions are used for price speculation."
She added that although privacy-focused altcoins are less liquid and more anonymous than BTC, the DEA "Still has ways of tracking" currencies such as Monero and Zcash.
"The blockchain actually gives us a lot of tools to be able to identify people. I actually want them to keep using them.''. At a U.S. House public meeting on digital assets in mid-July, Andreessen Horowitz managing partner Scott Kupor suggested that"Bitcoin is law enforcement's best friend" due to the ability to track illicit transactions on the blockchain.
US DEA: Criminal Activity in Cryptocurrency Has Dropped 80 Percent Since 2013
pubblicato su Aug 7, 2018
by Cointele | pubblicato su Coinage
Coinage
Menzionato in questo articolo
Notizie recenti
Vedi tutti
Blockchain Bites: Bitcoin's Run, Uniswap's Hemorrhaging Value, Anchorage's Banking Bid
Bitcoin is nearing all-time highs in price and market cap last set three years ago.
Japan's megabanks to lead experiment with digital yen
We have, in order, Cheese Bank with a $3.3 million theft, Akropolis with its $2 million loss, Value DeFi with a whopping $6 million exploit and finally Origin Protocol's loss of $7 million.
Number of new Bitcoin addresses spikes amid growing FOMO
Japan's three largest banks, as part of a group of 30 private sector actors, are set to collaborate on an experiment with a digital yen.
Not just Wall Street: Quant trader explains why Bitcoin price is going up
Sam Trabucco, a quantitative trader at Alameda Research, believes four general factors are pushing up the price of Bitcoin.