Posted on 01/27/2014 9:25:02 AM PST by Errant
The operators of two exchanges for the virtual currency Bitcoin have been arrested in the US.
The Department of Justice said Robert Faiella, known as BTCKing, and Charlie Shrem from BitInstant.com have both been charged with money laundering.
The authorities said the pair were engaged in a scheme to sell more than $1m (£603,000) in bitcoins to users of online drug marketplace the Silk Road.
The site was shut down last year and its alleged owner was arrested.
Mr Shrem was arrested on Sunday at New York's JFK airport. He was expected to appear in court on Monday, prosecutors said.
Mr Faiella was arrested on Monday at his home in Cape Coral, Florida.
(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.co.uk ...
Not without a fight I'm assuming. But bitcoin and all crytocurrencies in general have the ability to go viral and to tunnel through just about anything put in place to stop it. Its popularity with regular people in every country makes it into a powerful force even governments in collusion will difficult to deal with.
Did the dollar collapse?
For all the support of bitcoin, they do love cash.
And government likes to project its own vices onto the peasants.
You left out....rustlers, cut throats, murderers, bounty hunters, desperados, mugs, pugs, thugs, nitwits, halfwits, dimwits, vipers, snipers, con men, Indian agents, Mexican bandits, muggers, buggerers, bushwhackers, hornswogglers, horse thieves, bull dykes, train robbers, bank robbers, ass-kickers, s----kickers and Methodists.
Interesting Indeed. This will send shock waves through the Bitcoin community, unless actual “real money” laundering or conspiracy laws were broken.
lolol
Yeah, and kind of why I’m hoping one day, the control of the money supply (crytocurrency might provide that means) somehow finds its way back under the control of the people of this world and away from the governments and banksters...
It is what they say it is and they will punish anyone who says otherwise because... How are you going to stop them?
Yep, they've gotten themselves a real "bull" in charge now.
That’s HEDley!
Itex?
It’s stil around. I’ve had stock in it for 15 yrs.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Itex_Corporation
If that is the case, the both the treasury department, federal reserve, and EVERYONE who works in the banking and financial sectors need to be immediately arrested and charged with money laundering, conspiracy to commit wire fraud, collusion, and drug trafficking. Where do you think all of those drug DOLLARS originate from? If the feds can go after a currency for this perceived wrong, then the entire US financial sector is just as guilty for aiding and abetting lawbreakers, by financing their drug transactions.
Great point. Surely there is something else that they’re basing these charges on?
I’m not sure where the expression ‘cryptocurrency’ came from, but Bitcoin is the polar opposite of a cryptocurrency.
Anybody using bitcoin is allowed to download and examine the books on how much bitcoin actually exists.
As such, the only cryptocurrencies I can think of are the US Dollar, the Yuan, and other fiat currencies.
Oh, and HSBC has now restricted ‘large’ withdrawals (greater than 3,000 Yuan).
Bitcoin is a mortal threat to fiat currencies, in that every bitcoin user knows to the last bitcoin how much bitcoin is out there. The fluctuations you seen in bitcoin value ISN’T fluctuations in bitcoin, its fluctuations in the currencies being compared to it.
The only way to stop bitcoin is to hit the kill switch - take out the internet. Do that, and bitcoin is worthless, until the net is restored.
We are already past that point. Bartering for products and services between businesses or businesses and customers is already considered taxable income by the IRS.
The only reason they haven’t gone after individual bartering is because there is no way to do it. I’m sure they (and the NSA) are working on it though.
With every drop of the statist’s hammer we get closer to the point where the people realize that we are ALREADY in a civil war and have always been.
This is more about the online drug sales (Silk Road) than about Bitcoins. The Feds are still mopping up the people who were involved one way or the other in that very big operation.
http://www.coindesk.com/bitinstant-ceo-charlie-shrem-arrested-silk-road-bitcoin-bust/
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