Slashdot Mirror
Feds Ran a Bitcoin-Laundering Sting For Over a Year (theverge.com)
More than 40 alleged dark-web drug dealers have been arrested as part of a sweeping federal effort by the Department of Justice as "the first national undercover operation targeting dark net vendors." The Verge reports: The core of the operation was an online money-laundering business seized by agents from Homeland Security Investigations and operated as a sting for over a year. By offering cash for bitcoin, HSI agents were able to identify specific drug dealers, ultimately tracing more than $20 million in drug-linked cryptocurrency transactions. The hijacked money-laundering service was offered across a number of different marketplaces, with agents claiming at least some presence on AlphaBay, Dream Market, Wall Street, and others.
So far, prosecutions have been launched across 19 states as a result of the operation, seizing more than $3.6 million in cash. The same raids seized large quantities of Schedule IV pharmaceuticals -- including 100,000 tramadol pills and over 24 kilograms of Xanax -- as is typical of trade on dark net markets. Agents also recovered more than 300 models of liquid synthetic opioids and roughly 100 grams of fentanyl. Further investigations are still ongoing.
So far, prosecutions have been launched across 19 states as a result of the operation, seizing more than $3.6 million in cash. The same raids seized large quantities of Schedule IV pharmaceuticals -- including 100,000 tramadol pills and over 24 kilograms of Xanax -- as is typical of trade on dark net markets. Agents also recovered more than 300 models of liquid synthetic opioids and roughly 100 grams of fentanyl. Further investigations are still ongoing.
It's astounding how quickly the Bitcoin hype has disappeared. Last December it was all that we were hearing about. Then the value collapsed earlier this year, and now we hear almost nothing. It has gone back to being a niche novelty. Given how badly so many foolish people were burned by its most recent decline in value, it's more and more unlikely that a new and sufficiently large batch of fools will be found any time soon to allow for another overhauling of Bitcoin. To really put it in perspective, even NoSQL managed to retain its level of hype longer than Bitcoin did, and NoSQL was a much feebler and useless set of technologies.
Treason and everything else, sure. But not this, lol.
All it does is put hard working people in jail.
Time to put Wall Street in jail.
I don't read your sig. Why are you reading mine?
Crypto currencies base value is almost entirely on drugs, money laundering and ransomware payments. Legitimate businesses like Steam got out of it when it got to volatile to consider a currency.
Legalize Marijuana and I suspect you'll see the bottom fall out of Crypto currencies. Heck, legalize all drugs and treat the hard ones (cocaine & heroine) like the medical conditions that they are and that's basically that.
I can't say I'd be sad to see them go. It's a tremendous waste of electricity for not much in return. You're not going to get freedom from Government & Corporation backed fiat currencies out of it. If it ever came to that they'd just move in and take over. Heck, by all accounts Bitcoin's price has been manipulated by a bunch of folks out of China for the last year or two. Meanwhile it's nice to see GPU prices slowly coming back to Earth.
Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
because Nixon couldn't declare war on hippies.
After getting marijuana legalized we really need to decriminalize possession of other drugs (possession is "punished" by treatment, only dealers face jail), and start looking into what else could be safely legalized.
If they could, they would get rid of bitcoin, just like the did to e-gold.
"First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
Tramadol is like Ibuprofen++. It is very hard on the liver and used by people that are in actual pain because you can't get high from them. What the actual fuck is the point of this?
"When life gives you lemons, don't make lemonade. Make life take the lemons back!" -- Cave Johnson
I guess the rise in the bitcoin price in December was the US Govt buying Bitcoin for cash
**Life is too short to be serious**
Please tell me one of the bigger 'bitcon' evangelists got caught up in this. Rassah is nothing but libertarian scum.
Still waiting on Serviscope_minor to wake up to fucking reality and realize that Jessica Price isn't going to fuck him.
Tramadol is like Ibuprofen++. {...} and used by people that are in actual pain
The only thing in common between tramadol and ibuprofen is that they both releive pain and that's about it.
Ibuporofen is a type of non-steroid anti inflammation drug (NSAID). Basically it's "aspirin++" with its own set of set-backs and advantages (it's hard on the stomach. Can also affect the kidneys)
Tramadol is an opioid, it work on the same pain receptors as morphine and heroin, and has a different set of drawbacks that it share with these substance (risk of addiction. Causes often constipation and can cause urinary globe).
- Because it's addictive, it's much more difficult to obtain a prescription. Some people in actual pain might resort to illegal channel to obtain what they need (whil avoiding a high doctor fee, eg.)
- Because it's addictive, if it's not managed correctly, it can lead to addiction, and some people need to constantly get doses to avoid pain (either the people who got it from above, or people who didn't manage it correctly while prescribed by a doctor). They'll use illegal channel to keep fueling their addiction.
- It's an opioid. Somebody is bound to find some dubious way to use it recreatively. They'll also use illegal channels to obtain it.
The same kind of thinking can be also applied to the other drugs. Xanax contains alprazolam, a type of benzodiazepine - a class of drugs that is used as tranquilizers (against stress, to help sleep, etc.) which is also highly addictive.
Overall, these aren't illegal drugs. They are perfectly normal pharmaceutical component, only very strictly regulated ones.
To me, it looks like a sizeable chunk of the illegal drug market that US gov agencies are fighting isn't only druggies that want to get high (LSD, shrooms, etc.) but also people with medical condition that weren't managed properly and slowly devolved into an addiction.
If the other side of the Atlantic pond didn't have such a joke of a healthcare and social welfare system, maybe lots of these addict would have been able to afford going to the doctor, would have had better managed problem and wouldn't be resorting to illegal channel and fueling the drug market.
Yes, I know, we "evil-euro-communist"...
"Sufficiently advanced satire is indistinguishable from reality." - [Tips: 1DrYakQDKCQ6y52z6QbnkxHXAocMZJE61o ]
Are (any) fiat-currency and (any) cryptocurrency really equivalent, as cryptocurrency fans claim?
For example, US Dollar and Bitcoin are really equals?
Value/validity/authorization of US dollar is provided/guaranteed by US Government (and in-turn whole US Public)!
Also, not to mention, US Dollars in any US Bank is insured by US Government!
What authorization/guarantee/insurance is behind Bitcoin? Nothing!
Sorry but that is the end of discussion then!
Why do you think Satoshi Nakamoto is really hiding his identity, if Bitcoin is really such a great innovation?
He is just someone does not like media/fan attention?
Or, could it be really because Bitcoin (and all cryptocurrencies followed it) are actually Ponzi Schemes?
(So he knew very well that law enforcement would come after him sooner or later?!)
If so-called cryptocurrencies are really good innovation, why they attract so many criminals/criminal activity?
Could it really be because, all cryptocurrencies themselves are scams, and that is why they attract all kinds of criminals/criminal activity?
If so-called cryptocurrencies are really currency, why no company/store can use Bitcoin as currency anymore?
Because the price of Bitcoin proved to be extremely unstable to use as a currency?
Would the result be different, if Bitcoin replaced by any other "cryptocurrency"?
Aren't all work the same way?
If so-called cryptocurrencies are really money; isn't people issuing their own money, illegal already, in all countries?
If so then, why they are still not banned in all countries?
Or, they are not actually virtual currency but virtual investment?
But, if they are actually investment, why we need/want them?
What would happen to world economy, if people invested in virtual investments, instead of real investments?
Or, all so-called cryptocurrencies are actually just a modified (made decentralized and paying variable interest) Ponzi Schemes?
(Price of cryptocurrencies would keep increasing in the long term (by their design), so it is equivalent of paying variable interest to all long term investors.)
Also, since all so-called cryptocurrencies are actually financial scams (Ponzi Schemes), that means, they cannot be the solution for any of existing financial problems of our world!
As more and more people invest in cryptocurrencies, it will become harder and harder to ban their trading everywhere (because people invested in cryptocurrencies, would try to stop anyone trying to ban cryptocurrencies)!
All cryptocurrencies need to be banned globally before it is too late!
LOL what? No. He didn't actually do the thing he was supposed to be doing. Converting the stamps to cash was impossible, they weren't available in the quantities required, and even transporting them in a profitable manner wasn't feasible. Someone fed you some bullshit.
legalize all this stuff (natural) and most of this stuff will go away but then this will never happens since government loves to have ultimate power what you/me actually could do
you claim socialized medicine somehow prevents opiod addiction from prescription meds.
So go ahead, pretend this is an American only issue.
I think you might have missed the conditionals I've been using :
Noticed ?
I don't claim that socialized medicine is magic wand that you can wave away prescription meds addiction.
I claim that is possible that maybe, by making medicine more affordable, some potential addicts will get their problem better treated, and this could help avoid these to try instead some botched forms of self-medication that turns into addictions.
i.e.: some of the addict are actually patients that started with chronic pain problems, but couldn't afford to have them correctly handled by a professional. And by correctly, I mean considereing *All the options* to manage pain (see randomly quickly googled ref, still corresponds to the complexity I've learned in my studies). The problems is that all of these solution cost time and money.
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-43304375
From the exact same source (BBC) : :
- Why opioids are such an American problem. In addition to the title
and if you look about it, several of the listed problems boil down to "not enough resource in health care" (Pill being better re-imbursed than physiotherapy, US doctors earningn more money from kickbacks than salary, no ressource spent in proper pain-management training, etc.) though some are entirely cultural (population brainwashed by ads into "asking for {brand name} pill", unrealistic age-related expectations, online rating of doctors, ...)
- 'Growing problem' of addiction to prescription drugs probed says :
. (i.e.: BBC and PHE thinks that though UK has a problem, it isn't as bad as US).
"Sufficiently advanced satire is indistinguishable from reality." - [Tips: 1DrYakQDKCQ6y52z6QbnkxHXAocMZJE61o ]
There is a reason the darknet markets are rapidly moving away from Bitcoin and into Monero
SHUM
Part of the Second American Revolution!
How much did the gov't spend to recover that $3.6 cash? And they tracked $20 million in total transactions? That seems pretty light-weight. One US state had over $600 million in MJ sales the first year it was legalized. Ok, so they recovered some opioids and fentanyl, much to dismay of Trump supporters, but damn, guys. Show me the cocaine.
The Russians have won. They have made the world a cesspool of distrust, greed, fear and hate.
and it's only around $6k now. Yeah, some of that value is speculators, but nowhere near all of it.
Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
and it's only around $6k now. Yeah, some of that value is speculators, but nowhere near all of it.
Don't be silly. People have been speculating against bitcoin since you could get it for a dollar. Just because the crazy stupid price spike in the past year was entirely wallstreet doesn't change the fact that bitcoin's value is not pegged against any product and that trading from and to currencies is and always has been several orders of magnitude higher than any movement between accounts or in exchange for products.