<story><title>Cryptocurreny crime is way ahead of regulators and law enforcement</title><url>https://www.fnlondon.com/articles/nouriel-roubini-the-great-crypto-heist-20190719</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>anm89</author><text>I believe this is part of a disingenuous attempt to link crypto currencies with crime.&lt;p&gt;Crypto currencies are undoubtedly used for money laundering and hiding. Dollars are undoubtedly used for money laundering and hiding. Euros and gold and car washes are all undoubtedly used for money laundering.&lt;p&gt;The question is, does the fact that an asset is used in money laundering mean it should be outlawed. I think the answer is fairly transparently no. But this is seen as the easiest rhetorical tool in the event that someone is already looking for basis to argue for banning crypto currency. Think of the children! And Terrorism!&lt;p&gt;Imagine a new country came into existence except it held no physical land, it produced no physical goods, it built no physical infrastructure, it paid no welfare, it&amp;#x27;s just an internet country. Well this country&amp;#x27;s currency is just as usable for money laundering as every other currency assuming it freely floats but because it has no structural economy behind it, money laundering makes up a disproportionate portion of it&amp;#x27;s total use. Does that mean it was invented just to launder money?&lt;p&gt;The point is: of course a new internet currency is mostly used for money laundering. That&amp;#x27;s one easy thing to do with an internet currency and the other use cases are still developing.&lt;p&gt;In the end it doesn&amp;#x27;t matter though, I believe the ability of governments to censor cryptocurrencies is drastically less than they project.&lt;p&gt;They can turn off the on ramps but they also know that could cause a rush on those assets that they could never reverse.  And as the drug war taught us, throwing endless resources at preventing the sale of a commodity for currency on black markets works much better in principle than it does in reality.And in a world of floating converting convertible currencies, if they don&amp;#x27;t all coordinate a ban at once in an effective manner it&amp;#x27;s going to fail spectacularly, because there&amp;#x27;s always another currency on ramp that&amp;#x27;s just a money transfer away.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>cft</author><text>Bitcoin&amp;#x27;s illicit flows are negligible &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;markets.chainalysis.com&amp;#x2F;?range=30&amp;amp;asset=BTC#risk-illicit-flows&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;markets.chainalysis.com&amp;#x2F;?range=30&amp;amp;asset=BTC#risk-ill...&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;Roubini has heard Yellen and Lagarde loud and clear and is trying to score points- perhaps aiming for a regulatory job.</text></comment>
<story><title>Cryptocurreny crime is way ahead of regulators and law enforcement</title><url>https://www.fnlondon.com/articles/nouriel-roubini-the-great-crypto-heist-20190719</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>anm89</author><text>I believe this is part of a disingenuous attempt to link crypto currencies with crime.&lt;p&gt;Crypto currencies are undoubtedly used for money laundering and hiding. Dollars are undoubtedly used for money laundering and hiding. Euros and gold and car washes are all undoubtedly used for money laundering.&lt;p&gt;The question is, does the fact that an asset is used in money laundering mean it should be outlawed. I think the answer is fairly transparently no. But this is seen as the easiest rhetorical tool in the event that someone is already looking for basis to argue for banning crypto currency. Think of the children! And Terrorism!&lt;p&gt;Imagine a new country came into existence except it held no physical land, it produced no physical goods, it built no physical infrastructure, it paid no welfare, it&amp;#x27;s just an internet country. Well this country&amp;#x27;s currency is just as usable for money laundering as every other currency assuming it freely floats but because it has no structural economy behind it, money laundering makes up a disproportionate portion of it&amp;#x27;s total use. Does that mean it was invented just to launder money?&lt;p&gt;The point is: of course a new internet currency is mostly used for money laundering. That&amp;#x27;s one easy thing to do with an internet currency and the other use cases are still developing.&lt;p&gt;In the end it doesn&amp;#x27;t matter though, I believe the ability of governments to censor cryptocurrencies is drastically less than they project.&lt;p&gt;They can turn off the on ramps but they also know that could cause a rush on those assets that they could never reverse.  And as the drug war taught us, throwing endless resources at preventing the sale of a commodity for currency on black markets works much better in principle than it does in reality.And in a world of floating converting convertible currencies, if they don&amp;#x27;t all coordinate a ban at once in an effective manner it&amp;#x27;s going to fail spectacularly, because there&amp;#x27;s always another currency on ramp that&amp;#x27;s just a money transfer away.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>stretchcat</author><text>&amp;gt; &lt;i&gt;[A country with] no physical land, it produced no physical goods, it built no physical infrastructure, it paid no welfare,&lt;/i&gt;&lt;p&gt;&amp;gt; &lt;i&gt;&amp;quot;Does that mean it was invented just to launder money?&amp;quot;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;p&gt;Probably.</text></comment>