Adventures in Bitcoin

[NYEXPAT]

I had a short hedge on GBTC for about a week, that was closed out on/about Dec 22nd for about 6k profit. Only 1/2 the profit was mine and I did not want to file a tax return this year so I told him to keep it. With the split coming up on Monday, the premiums of about 53% now could explode again and I would definitely take that free money.

[Teacher Terry]

I don't mind reporting what happened for us. Since we bought really low, 4 years ago we cashed out some of ours like we always do when it gets high. We cashed out close to 20k. We are now doing what we always do and are just holding the rest we have left. Financially, we are way ahead of this game. When we first bought 4 years ago it was purely speculative so did not spend more then we wanted to loose. My son and his wife have cashed out about 100k profit and still own some and we are at about half of that.

[Spanky]

Do you really want to support money laundering via bitcoin?

[Teacher Terry]

Spanky, you are being ridiculous. I am not doing anything illegal and we have made some serious $. Nothing to not like about that.

[NYEXPAT]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Spanky Do you really want to support money laundering via bitcoin?

Most money laundering is in $USD. I understand there is a crypto (forgot the name) that has replaced BTC for money laundering as it is truly anonymous.

[Spanky]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Teacher Terry Spanky, you are being ridiculous. I am not doing anything illegal and we have made some serious $. Nothing to not like about that.

Not you.

Criminals do. There are many articles on the net. Here's a sample:
https://www.hg.org/article.asp?id=31835

[Teacher Terry]

I don't care what others do.

[mrfeh]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Texas Proud Glad you got out with what little gain you have... I was wondering what all the people on this board who kept telling us how great it was and how it was going to keep going up and up was going to say, if anything...

Depends on when you bought your bitcoins. Anybody who bought before December is still in the green.

Anybody that uses funds they aren't willing to lose are being reckless.

[4legsgood]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Spanky Not you. Criminals do. There are many articles on the net. Here's a sample: https://www.hg.org/article.asp?id=31835

I'm sure speculation is now by far the largest use of bitcoin.

[ulrichw]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Spanky Not you. Criminals do. There are many articles on the net. Here's a sample: https://www.hg.org/article.asp?id=31835

I think you picked a good example of the articles documenting so-called money-laundering through Bitcoin.

The article is a fluff piece written by some legal group (HG.org) likely trying to leverage the popularity of Bitcoin into getting some web hits.

There's nothing particularly inaccurate about the article, but it is purely hypothetical.

Also, the exchanges that let you convert USD to/from Bitcoin that I've found comply with KYC (Know your customer) rules - i.e., you have to document your identity.

A big drawback for money-launderers is that Bitcoin's ledger lives forever. That means that if an address is ever linked to you, the trail can be followed all the way to its sources regardless of when the transactions were done.

This makes it an extremely risky to use Bitcoin for money laundering because you have to take into account not only the risk of current disclosure, but also the risk of future disclosure.

Beyond that, the article also makes a hand-waving argument that you can: "simply [convert] it to fiat currency out of the country where the transaction will not be noted by the government" - This may be true for small quantities - but I suspect the liquidity isn't there for any significant fiat laundering (after all, the funds that you're receiving for your Bitcoin have to be clean, too).

I think Bitcoin's current value is far greater as a gambling instrument than as a money laundering instrument.

[Spanky]

Quote:

I think Bitcoin's current value is far greater as a gambling instrument than as a money laundering instrument.

Agreed - Bitcoin is totally speculative. Some would say that it will reach $100,000 by the end of 2018 while some would say that it will return to the mean soon.

[aja8888]

As far as gambling, I would rather go to Vegas and place my bet on the Patriots.