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The memo field is not terribly relevant. I've jokingly written things very similar to these examples on real bank checks and never had a problem with someone else cashing or depositing them.
Many of the largest banks in the world launder much greater sums and get away with the lightest slap on the wrist. Wherever money changes hands you will find ethically challenged people making a profit. Gangster Bankers: Too Big to Jail http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/gangster-bankers-t...
As I've discussed previously[1], Taibbi is not noted for being a reliable systems expert on the international banking system. The simple facts are damning enough without layers of editorializing cruft from an unreliable source.
For example, consider the assertion that people need to go to jail for fraud in the HSBC case. Most of these bad things are instances of the bank systemically not monitoring transactions closely enough. You can't pick individuals and throw them in jail for responding to bad institutional incentives--you have to pick out a specific criminal act that's punishable by jail time and pin it on someone, beyond reasonable doubt. Truth be told, if you start doing this in an equitable fashion with the goal of "punishing" bad banking behavior, you'll target a lot of lower-middle-class mortgage brokers from the 2008 mortgage crisis who knowingly committed fraud, which seems like an undesirable result. Or maybe you could pick a few politically convenient scapegoats, but that would be unjust in a different way. That's why we fine banks billions of dollars instead.
Ah they now have an angle to go after bitcoin.
Ah they now have an angle to go after bitcoin.
Difference is, there is no one behind bitcoin. No one to arrest. The only "real people" "behind" it are the Exchanges. However, they(usually) hold proper documentation for transactions and comply with the law fully.
No, the real people behind it are the miners. You know, the people that create bitcoins and validate every bitcoin transaction?
> LR's most basic criminal offense is simple: It didn't know or want to know the identities of its clients. They allowed people to transfer big sums of money without checking their identification. That this is a crime disgusts me. I should be able to do whatever I want with my money without anyone knowing who I am. That's how it worked up to the past century.
Crimes against facilitating human trafficking and terrorism disgust you?
> LR's most basic criminal offense is simple: It didn't know or want to know the identities of its clients. They allowed people to transfer big sums of money without checking their identification. That this is a crime disgusts me. I should be able to do whatever I want with my money without anyone knowing who I am. That's how it worked up to the past century.
Wanting privacy shouldn't make you a criminal just because many criminals also happen to want to remain on the down low.
Further, the appeals of "oh, but drugs" or "oh, but human trafficking" or "oh, but child porn" and so on are empty.
They reflect an abject laziness from society and law enforcement: they want problems to be easy and they want to play lip service rather than solve them. They reflect the notions that it's 'good enough' for something to be done however ineffective and worthless it is.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Difference is, there is no one behind bitcoin. No one to arrest. The only "real people" "behind" it are the Exchanges. However, they(usually) hold proper documentation for transactions and comply with the law fully.
> Difference is, there is no one behind bitcoin. No one to arrest. The only "real people" "behind" it are the Exchanges. No, the real people behind it are the miners. You know, the people that create bitcoins and validate every bitcoin transaction?
>[...]put things like "your share of the cashout," "for atm skimming," and "for the cocaine," into the memo field (where you'd put "Rent" on a check) The memo field is not terribly relevant. I've jokingly written things very similar to these examples on real bank checks and never had a problem with someone else cashing or depositing them.
My guess is everything is monitored but red flags only go off when suspicious activity is frequent or serious enough.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Umm, no, you shouldn't be able to do everything you want with your money. A payment processor has a fiduciary duty for its customers. So if you are sending $100,000 to Nigeria to pay for puppies, the Payment processor better stop this transaction to protect you form being scammed. Now maybe you are smart and savvy enough to be not scammed but an average joe isn't. There are many rules in the payment industry but KYC…
In actuality it's way worse than just being scammed out of your property. People are being deprived of their freedom and dignity, something even the most die-hard libertarian will find challenging about this "total freedom in moving my money anonymously" position. http://blogs.aljazeera.com/blog/americas/face-human-traffick...