Organized Crime High on Bitcoin

A currency is, in its simplest form, a medium of exchange. That means that criminals will be able to use Bitcoin to conduct their illegal activities just like they used other currencies before. As much as criminals were bound to use Bitcoin to conduct their illegal activities, some wrongdoing was bound to bloom from within Bitcoin. Mt Gox is the most notorious example, and there have been a number of Bitcoin conspiracy theories tied to the now defunct Tokyo-based exchange.

Many have said that Mt Gox engaged in all kinds of fraudulent behavior, including deceiving customers and actually stealing money from them. Conspiracy theories about what really happened still abound. However the most interesting one is the theory that Mark Karpeles – Mt Gox’s CEO – himself came up with to explain the theft of his coins and the disappearance of documents. Karpeles blamed 2 federal agents for the theft, arguing that they had been involved in the whole Silk Road story, and wanted to cover their tracks.