Speculative bubble or no, perhaps the greatest challenge facing Bitcoin, cryptocurrencies in general, and the broader world of blockchain is the fact that all of these efforts in some way support criminal endeavors.
I’ve written about how criminal enterprise is largely responsible for the value of Bitcoin, and to be sure, it drives the demand for many alternative cybercurrencies as well.
However, regardless of whether you believe cryptocurrency is all about facilitating crime vs. crime being but a small, unfortunate side effect of the rise of crypto coinage, there’s no arguing with the fact that global law enforcement recognizes that cryptocurrency is the criminal’s playground.
In fact, four primary areas of criminal activity lend themselves to cryptocurrency: tax evasion, money laundering, contraband transactions, and extortion – not to mention the theft of cryptocurrency itself, which is all too easy with Bitcoin.
Cryptocurrencies have actually lead to a massive cat and mouse game with law enforcement, as agencies get better at identifying criminal behavior, while criminals come up with new evasion techniques and increasingly anonymous cybercurrencies in order to defeat the efforts of law enforcement.
While much of this innovation in the greater cybercurrency/blockchain arena aligns with the interests of criminals, there is another side to this story: the increasing recognition that law enforcement requires its own technological innovation in order to keep up.
Read the entire article at https://www.forbes.com/sites/jasonbloomberg/2017/12/28/using-bitcoin-or-other-cryptocurrency-to-commit-crimes-law-enforcement-is-onto-you/.
Intellyx publishes the Agile Digital Transformation Roadmap poster, advises companies on their digital transformation initiatives, and helps vendors communicate their agility stories. As of the time of writing, Nastel Technologies is an Intellyx customer. None of the other organizations mentioned in this article are Intellyx customers. Image credit: Steve Garfield, Jørn Eriksson, and Jason Bloomberg.
