Gambling and other "illicit activities" no longer drive bitcoin

Discussion in 'General Bitcoin Gambling Discussion' started by Humble Servant, Jul 14, 2016.

  1. Humble Servant

    Humble Servant Active Member Staff Member

    Bitcoin appears to be maturing according to this article in Coindesk about a major new study by researchers from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, the central bank of Germany and University College London. The main conclusion of the study is that "the use of bitcoin for illegal transactions at the present time might be overstated". This will be seen as good news for all companies in the bitcoin space who have had to fight against the commonly held belief that bitcoin is only useful for illegal activities.

    The researchers break the growth of bitcoin into 3 phases...
    1. The early proof of concept days.
    2. The gambling and dark market phase (Silk Road etc.)
    3. The legitimate merchants and exchanges phase.
    According to the report we are now at phase 3.
     
  2. EthHead

    EthHead Member

    I have found myself using bitcoin more frequently these days to do things like pay my VPN provider and shop online. When I see BTC as a payment option it is always a relief because I hate filling in credit card forms.
     
  3. Humble Servant

    Humble Servant Active Member Staff Member

    The current price rise in bitcoin seems to be driven by the start of the NFL and College Football season so I think bitcoin is still used quiet a lot for online gambling despite this reports claims. The price has jumped 10% in the week running up to the first NFL preseason game.
     
  4. I don't think gambling should be categorised as some kind of illicit activity. Just because the U.S. government takes a puritanical position against it doesn't mean it's not a legit use of crypto.
     
  5. Kaboom

    Kaboom Member

    ransomware attacks have become more commonplace so i'm not sure how accurate this study is. does anyone know how much bitcoin is bought every month to remove ransomware?
     
  6. Gooch

    Gooch Member

    I read the ransomeware attacks were in excess of $350 million last year.
     
  7. Humble Servant

    Humble Servant Active Member Staff Member

    According to The Guardian, some of London's largest banks are now stockpiling bitcoin because they believe that it is easier to negotiate with hackers than to risk having their critical IT infrastructure brought down. This has to be bullish for the price of BTC.
     
  8. Spud

    Spud Member

    i guess this will depend on what your definition of "illicit" is. the chinese and indian governments might take the stance that using bitcoin for capital flight is an illicit use. if that's the case then bitcoin will always be used for illicit purposes.
     
  9. 2damoon

    2damoon Member

    The price of bitcoin spiked by about $100 the week before the Super Bowl so there are obviously a lot of sports fans in the USA using btc these days.
     
  10. Humble Servant

    Humble Servant Active Member Staff Member

    When RSK Rootstock launched on bitcoin we may see an influx of ICO's on bitcoin like we are currently seeing on Ethereum. That would significantly increase the price.
     
  11. Wonka

    Wonka Member

    I read that India are considering legalizing bitcoin. Given that they are a country with a long history of using gold as a store of value, I think we could see a huge explosion there of interest in bitcoin as the younger generation start to invest in the new "digital gold".
     
  12. SuckIt

    SuckIt Member

    Cryto seems to be driven by ICO's (Initial Coin Offerings) these days that are bringing in hundreds of millions.
     
  13. Humble Servant

    Humble Servant Active Member Staff Member

    Even though I think most of these ICO's are scams, I don't like seeing Ethereum getting all the ICO money. It will be good when RSK Rootstock launches later this year and companies start to launch their tokens on bitcoin rather than Ethereum. I could easily see it add 1K to 2K per coin providing the SEC hasn't already intervened by then.
     
  14. Terry

    Terry Member

    the popularity of bitcoin has exploded in the past year in both south korea and japan. they have replaced china as the biggest buys of cryptocurrencies. the price of bitcoin barely rose this year following the beginning of the nfl season, which shows that bitcoin price is no longer driven by gambling and darknet markets.
     
  15. Humble Servant

    Humble Servant Active Member Staff Member

  16. PokerGod

    PokerGod Member

    the fact that the cashapp now allows you to buy and sell bitcoin should be a good indication that bitcoin has gone mainstream.

     
  17. Doyle

    Doyle Member

    how bitcoin is being driven by dodgy crypto hedge fund managers who are more corrupt that any gambling or darknet market operator. things will really get sleazy oncegoldman sachs open their trading desk.
     
  18. Kaboom

    Kaboom Member

    CashApp, Neteller, Skrill and Revolut now all allow their customers to buy bitcoin so it has definitely gone mainstream. This year Baakt and Fidelity Investments will launch products that will allow institutional investors to buy bitcoin for the first time. Baakt has even done a deal that will allow bitcoin users to make purchases in Bitcoin at Starbucks. The times they are a changing.
     
  19. Header

    Header Member

    Fidelity Investments who control over 7 trillion worth of assets for institutional investors now offer bitcoin to their clients. Bitcoin is now Gold 2.0 and the next bull run will be driven by institutional money, not darknet markets or gold.

     

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