In addition to being used as a means of exchange, Bitcoin has also been used by cybercriminals to fund their activities. For example, an online marketplace called Evolution, an online black market, was shut down in a sting operation by the FBI in November 2014. In the report, the FBI stated that over 100,000 Bitcoin belonging to Evolution users and administrators had been seized, which is worth approximately US$28 million.
In 2016, the dark web marketplace AlphaBay was shut down by the FBI and Europol. The site relied on Bitcoin as the primary means of exchange, accounting for more than 70% of all transactions. The site also used an online Bitcoin mixing service called BitLaundry, which allowed users to avoid tracking by converting their Bitcoin to Dash. With the closure of AlphaBay, users have moved to a new darknet market called Hansa, which also relies on Dash, a cryptocurrency that is much harder to track.
Other illegal uses of Bitcoin
Another illegal use of Bitcoins is its role in money laundering. In this process, a person or group takes large sums of money from illicit activities, such as drug or human trafficking, and then uses it to purchase Bitcoins, which can be laundered much more easily. This is due to the traceability of Bitcoin transactions, as every transaction is recorded in a public ledger. However, the identity of the individual user behind an address remains unknown until information is revealed during a purchase or in other circumstances.
A study by the University of Cambridge estimates that in 2017, 4% to 9% of all transactions on all exchanges in the world were for drug trades on a single dark web drugs market, Silk Road.
Rise and rise of Bitcoin: 2014-2017
In February 2014, the U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS) ruled that Bitcoin will be treated as property for tax purposes. This means Bitcoin transactions will be subject to capital gains tax. In a paper published by researchers from Oxford and Warwick, it was shown that Bitcoin has some characteristics more like the precious metals market than traditional currencies, hence in agreement with the IRS decision even if based on different reasons.
In June 2014, the Bitcoin Foundation was launched to “accelerate the global growth of bitcoin through standardization, protection, and promotion of the open source protocol”. The founders were Gavin Andresen, Jon Matonis, Patrick Murck, Charlie Shrem, and Peter Vessenes.
In October 2015, a proposal was submitted to the Unicode Consortium to add a codepoint for the bitcoin symbol.
In October 2015, a proposal was submitted to the Unicode Consortium to add a codepoint for the bitcoin symbol.
In June 2016, the London Review of Books published a piece by Andrew O’Hagan about Nakamoto.
In November 2016, the Swiss Railway operator SBB (CFF) upgraded all their automated ticket machines so that bitcoin could be bought from them using the scanner on the ticket machine to scan the bitcoin address on a phone app.
In October 2016, a proposal was submitted to the Unicode Consortium to add a codepoint for the bitcoin symbol.
Rise and rise of Bitcoin: 2017-current
In January 2017, the bitcoin symbol was encoded in Unicode version 10.0 at position U+20BF (â‚¿) in the Currency Symbols block.
In March 2017, the Cabinet of Japan recognized virtual currencies like Bitcoin as having a function similar to real money.
In April 2017, the price of one bitcoin passed US$1,000 for the first time.
In July 2017, researchers published a paper showing that by November 2013, one million bitcoins had been stolen from cryptocurrency exchanges.
In September 2018, hackers stole 4,700 bitcoins from NiceHash a platform that allowed users to sell hashing power. The value of the stolen bitcoins totaled about $70 million.
In October 2018, the Bitcoin price was allegedly manipulated by the owners of the CME Group, Cboe Global Markets, CME Group, Coinbase, Bitstamp and Bitfinex, in association with up to 19 other cryptocurrency exchanges. The group was accused of placing “inflatable” bids in order to push the price up.
In December 2018, a city government first accepted digital currency in payment of city fees. Zug, Switzerland added bitcoin as a means of paying small amounts, up to 200SFr., in a test and an attempt to advance Zug as a region that is advancing future technologies. In a region that is not dependant on a traditional economy, we want to offer our technology to our citizens. Zug was, in 2013, the first municipality to accept bitcoin in this manner.
In January 2019, the price of Bitcoin dropped to its 2018 low, $3000. This drop was due to a market-wide sell-off that occurred after the Indian government announced that they would be banning the use of cryptocurrencies. The government also announced that they would be introducing a new form of currency, the BGB, which would be a digital fiat currency run on blockchain. The BGB is expected to be released in April 2019.
In February 2019, the South Korean government announced that it was planning to regulate cryptocurrency trading. This would include requiring users to verify their identity, and banning the use of anonymous bank accounts.
In March 2019, Google announced that it would no longer allow cryptocurrency mining apps on the Google Play Store. This was due to the fact that many of the apps were being used for mining cryptocurrency, and not for their intended purpose.
In April 2019, the South Korean government announced that it would be banning cryptocurrency trading, and that they would be closing down all exchanges. This ban will begin in May of 2019, and it is expected to be in place for at least one year.