FBI made 20-page report on Bitcoins on April 24, 2012

[Dan Druff]

Anyone who believes the US government isn't coming after this bullshit "currency" is on drugs -- literally and figuratively!

The 20-page report: http://www.scribd.com/doc/93077438/B...x3fzyhr68db9w6

If Bitcoin stabilizes and grows in popularity, it will become an increasingly usefultool for various illegal activities beyond the cyber realm. For instance, child pornography and Internet gambling are illegal activities already taking place on the Internet which require simple payment transfers. Bitcoin might logically attract money launderers, human traffickers, terrorists,and other criminals who avoid traditional financial systems by using the Internet to conduct global monetary transfers.

[Bootsy Collins]

Anyone who believes the US government isn't coming after this bullshit "currency" is on drugs -- literally and figuratively!

The 20-page report: http://www.scribd.com/doc/93077438/B...x3fzyhr68db9w6

If Bitcoin stabilizes and grows in popularity, it will become an increasingly usefultool for various illegal activities beyond the cyber realm. For instance, child pornography and Internet gambling are illegal activities already taking place on the Internet which require simple payment transfers. Bitcoin might logically attract money launderers, human traffickers, terrorists,and other criminals who avoid traditional financial systems by using the Internet to conduct global monetary transfers.

And yet our 4 eyed gangly friend is still oblivious to the consequences.

[FPS_Russia]

Catchy tune

[chinamaniac]

I liked this video but don't have to wait for checks @ ACR and on Merge if u sign up through the right people u can get cashouts rather quickly

[TheTemplar]

I liked this video but don't have to wait for checks @ ACR and on Merge if u sign up through the right people u can get cashouts rather quickly

[Dan Druff]

SrslySirius, did you base the tune of your Seals song on the chorus of this:

[simpdog]

SrslySirius, did you base the tune of your Seals song on the chorus of this:

Is that gamblebot in the video with the floppy hair?

[DRK Star]

great 1st post

[Sandwich]

Interesting!

I had trouble downloading and printing the report off of that site, but found an easy .pdf version here:
http://www.wired.com/images_blogs/th...itcoin-FBI.pdf

[FPS_Russia]

Simpdog:
is that gamblebot in the video with the floppy hair?

LOLOL truly funny. GAMBLE-GUETTA

[SrslySirius]

SrslySirius, did you base the tune of your Seals song on the chorus of this:

No, but it was indeed based on a David Guetta song.



Interesting report there by the FBI. I also enjoyed their threat assessment of the Juggalos and other violent gangs. http://www.fbi.gov/stats-services/pu...g%20Trends.pdf

Once they figure out how magnets work, no one is safe!

[FPS_Russia]

Good answer, good answer.

[Sandwich]

Once they figure out how magnets work, no one is safe!

"Water, fire, air and dirt
Fucking magnets, how do they work?
And I don't wanna talk to a scientist
Y'all motherfuckers lying, and getting me pissed"

LOL

[mtnDew]

next up Micon on the FBI most wanted list.

[OSA]

next up Micon on the FBI most wanted list.

Would be icing on the cake.

[Sandwich]

It is pretty clear that Micon's bitcoin videos and such are what the report refers to as "open source information," which the FBI relied upon: "Open source information comes from different online resources describing products or services offered to conduct monetary transactions and are, therefore, considered reliable." (Report, p. 2)

[TheTemplar]

I just don't get how anyone can really thing this is a good idea. I tried reading up on it but it just doesn't make any sense to me. You give someone your money, and it is backed, because someone says so?

I dunno can someone bring me up to speed on this? Or is it just to idiotic to learn about in the first place.

[Steve-O]

I just don't get how anyone can really thing this is a good idea. I tried reading up on it but it just doesn't make any sense to me. You give someone your money, and it is backed, because someone says so?

I dunno can someone bring me up to speed on this? Or is it just to idiotic to learn about in the first place.

that's how our paper money works! It's value (in relation to goods and other currency) is based on what people think its worth. Apparently the BitCoins thing differs in that there is "supposedly" a finite amount, and that its "supposedly" untraceable. Although I am by no means an expert on BitCoins, so I could be completely wrong here, but this is my understanding of it.

[Dan Druff]

I just don't get how anyone can really thing this is a good idea. I tried reading up on it but it just doesn't make any sense to me. You give someone your money, and it is backed, because someone says so?

I dunno can someone bring me up to speed on this? Or is it just to idiotic to learn about in the first place.

that's how our paper money works! It's value (in relation to goods and other currency) is based on what people think its worth. Apparently the BitCoins thing differs in that there is "supposedly" a finite amount, and that its "supposedly" untraceable. Although I am by no means an expert on BitCoins, so I could be completely wrong here, but this is my understanding of it.

Yes, there is a finite amount of bitcoins. Bitcoins are generated ("mined"), but the model was constructed so they are very easy to mine in the early stages, but very hard (to the point where the computer resources and electricity being used to mine them isn't worth it) after a lot of bitcoins are out there. This is the reason bitcoins are referred to as a pyramid scheme. Those that got into them in the early days easily generated thousands on their own, and the people who came in later (the vast majority using them) couldn't do the same. This gave the original bitcoin enthusiasts most of the money, simply for showing up early.

But that's not really the main problem here.

There are three major bitcoin fallacies that their proponents either don't understand or are hoping others won't realize.

Fallacy #1: Bitcoins are legal because they are not an actual currency. It is legal to gamble play money on the internet, and legal to trade play money for goods and services. Therefore, there is nothing illegal about bitcoins or gambling with them. This would be true if the popularity of bitcoins wasn't centered around trading them for real money. This isn't just a matter of bitcoins being a valueless internet currency that some people happen to buy and sell for real money behind the scenes. Pretty much every site accepting bitcoins makes it clear that you can go to MtGox to obtain/sell bitcoins for actual currency. The whole current model (and slowly growing popularity) of bitcoins is based around that. This changes bitcoins from a play money non-currency to a rogue, illegal currency with actual value.

Fallacy #2: Bitcoins cannot be shut down by the US government, because they have no centralized location. This is false because the US government doesn't need to remove every bitcoin from the internet in order to eradicate them. This is because bitcoins only have value to most people because they can be traded for real currency. This is why people accept bitcoins for drugs. This is why young camsluts take off their clothes for bitcoins. This is why people even consider playing on fail bitcoin gambling sites like Seals. If bitcoins were truly internet play money, they would be worthless. The US government doesn't have to shut down bitcoins themselves. They just have to shut down the middleman sites involved in trading them for real currency (such as MtGox), and the whole model will come crashing down. We have already seen bitcoins do a panic-fall in value when major bitcoin hacking stories hit the press. Once the US government shuts down sites like MtGox, everyone will want to dump them, and they will go from their current value of around $5 to less than 5 cents (or perhaps even less than 1 cent). And this will happen so quickly that nobody will have time to get rid of their bitcoins at $5 each, or anywhere near that.

Fallacy #3: The US government is unlikely to make an effort to stop bitcoins. As detailed in the FBI report, bitcoins are being used to pay for child pornography, drugs, untraceable guns, and other illegal items. There is no way that the government is going to sit back and let this continue to occur for much longer. This is especially true because the government has the (legitimate) concern that bitcoins can be used to easily transfer money to support terrorism.

[Dan Druff]

Also, the smart bitcoin site operators are ones who stay in the shadows and quietly collect their money anonymously, doing everything they can to make their real identities untraceable.

The dumb ones are the people who freely associate their name and face with their illegal projects.

I seem to recall knowing someone in the latter category, but his name escapes me at the moment.