Stop using Bitcoin - Use Monero or another privacy coin

[bubba_bob]

Feds ran a bitcoin-laundering sting for over a year

https://www.theverge.com/2018/6/27/17509444/dark-web-drug-market-money-laundering-hsi-dark-gold

Still, Melendez emphasized that the open nature of the blockchain made it difficult to hide drug money. “The biggest selling point for the blockchain is that it’s transparent. Everybody can see it. And we can see it, too.”

Monero is a very good privacy coin: https://getmonero.org/

You can use services like shapeshift.io to convert your Monero to BTC or something else but the trail is much cleaner by then. Or if you want to assume more risk try localmonero.co (not localmonero.com - they are bad) to exchange for cash.

 

[Animutiddies]

Everyone who’s been in the game long enough knows that it’s basically no safer to use these services than using your credit card directly. If the boys in blue want to peg your ass, they most certainly will. The move toward crypto as opposed to western union as opposed to just in-person sourcing everything, and inevitably the move toward something post-crypto in the next few years, is all just for peace of mind; You’re just as likely to be butt fucked by the law if you hide behind 9 VPNs, Tor, and tumble your crypto as you are if you go buy a few vials at your local planet fitness.

I won’t say it’s wrong at all to go through all these other avenues, and considering how paranoid most of us are, from taking way too much Tren, these sorts of things are certainly wonderful for helping us sleep at night. But overall it does not change anything. Just do your butt sauce and bench 9 plates and hope you don’t ever end up on LEO radar.

Personally I believe the best way to fly under the radar is by just not being a criminal in other areas, as it seems fairly common in busts (both personal use and sourcing) that the target had some sort of prior record for something else entirely. I personally believe that once you have a record for any crime whatsoever, you are infinitely more at risk of being picked up again. That’s a tangent though and just my own opinion.

 

[RavageStryker]

They are only going after hard drugs not steroids.

 

[resistor]

Animutiddies" pid='18372' dateline='1530221304:

Personally I believe the best way to fly under the radar is by just not being a criminal in other areas

this. you don’t hear about people getting pulled over for having meth in their car. they got pulled over bc expired plates and the cops FOUND meth in the car.

 

[bubba_bob]

Animutiddies" pid='18372' dateline='1530221304:

Everyone who’s been in the game long enough knows that it’s basically no safer to use these services than using your credit card directly. If the boys in blue want to peg your ass, they most certainly will. The move toward crypto as opposed to western union as opposed to just in-person sourcing everything, and inevitably the move toward something post-crypto in the next few years, is all just for peace of mind; You’re just as likely to be butt fucked by the law if you hide behind 9 VPNs, Tor, and tumble your crypto as you are if you go buy a few vials at your local planet fitness.

I won’t say it’s wrong at all to go through all these other avenues, and considering how paranoid most of us are, from taking way too much Tren, these sorts of things are certainly wonderful for helping us sleep at night. But overall it does not change anything. Just do your butt sauce and bench 9 plates and hope you don’t ever end up on LEO radar.

Personally I believe the best way to fly under the radar is by just not being a criminal in other areas, as it seems fairly common in busts (both personal use and sourcing) that the target had some sort of prior record for something else entirely. I personally believe that once you have a record for any crime whatsoever, you are infinitely more at risk of being picked up again. That’s a tangent though and just my own opinion.

Lots of truth in there. The Monero project is doing great work in the area of privacy with Kovri and the coin. There is some solid tech in there with good open source code that is well reviewed.

Ultimately, the weakness in the whole thing is always converting everything to cash.

That being said. Sticking to the less notorious stuff like butt sauce is certainly safer. But they are watching the postal shipments and once you are on their radar it’s just a matter of the case falling on the wrong person’s desk.

My main point is that Bitcoin is very open. They are data mining that blockchain and can easily trace the path of any transaction - even through the tumblers. Knowing that - why not use an alternative that can’t be data mined. No need to make it easier for anyone to trace you down.

 

[everywhereatonce]

Every privacy measure makes it more difficult for LE to bust you. No privacy measure will make it impossible for LE to bust you.

Privacy measures also help sources not get busted. If most customers are not using basic security measures, it’s easy to put together evidence and make a bust. If most customers are being smart, it’s much harder.

LE wants big busts that make good headlines. The harder they have to work to prove a bust-worthy number of transactions from a source, the less likely they are to bust. Basic privacy measures, like never mailing Protonmail from anything but another Protonmail, help protect everyone.

 

[system]

Feds ran a bitcoin-laundering sting for over a year

https://www.theverge.com/2018/6/27/17509444/dark-web-drug-market-money-laundering-hsi-dark-gold

Still, Melendez emphasized that the open nature of the blockchain made it difficult to hide drug money. “The biggest selling point for the blockchain is that it’s transparent. Everybody can see it. And we can see it, too.”

Monero is a very good privacy coin: https://getmonero.org/

You can use services like shapeshift.io to convert your Monero to BTC or something else but the trail is much cleaner by then. Or if you want to assume more risk try localmonero.co (not localmonero.com - they are bad) to exchange for cash.

My guess is they used a tumbler. There are plenty of anonymous ways of using Bitcoin. Stupid people are going to do stupid things. That one mod from a darknet market cashed out BTC directly to their bank account from the BTC donation address. Low hanging fruit.

 

[Pharmahgh]

bubba_bob" pid='18451' dateline='1530286367:

Animutiddies" pid='18372' dateline='1530221304:

Everyone who’s been in the game long enough knows that it’s basically no safer to use these services than using your credit card directly. If the boys in blue want to peg your ass, they most certainly will. The move toward crypto as opposed to western union as opposed to just in-person sourcing everything, and inevitably the move toward something post-crypto in the next few years, is all just for peace of mind; You’re just as likely to be butt fucked by the law if you hide behind 9 VPNs, Tor, and tumble your crypto as you are if you go buy a few vials at your local planet fitness.

I won’t say it’s wrong at all to go through all these other avenues, and considering how paranoid most of us are, from taking way too much Tren, these sorts of things are certainly wonderful for helping us sleep at night. But overall it does not change anything. Just do your butt sauce and bench 9 plates and hope you don’t ever end up on LEO radar.

Personally I believe the best way to fly under the radar is by just not being a criminal in other areas, as it seems fairly common in busts (both personal use and sourcing) that the target had some sort of prior record for something else entirely. I personally believe that once you have a record for any crime whatsoever, you are infinitely more at risk of being picked up again. That’s a tangent though and just my own opinion.

Lots of truth in there. The Monero project is doing great work in the area of privacy with Kovri and the coin. There is some solid tech in there with good open source code that is well reviewed.

Ultimately, the weakness in the whole thing is always converting everything to cash.

That being said. Sticking to the less notorious stuff like butt sauce is certainly safer. But they are watching the postal shipments and once you are on their radar it’s just a matter of the case falling on the wrong person’s desk.

My main point is that Bitcoin is very open. They are data mining that blockchain and can easily trace the path of any transaction - even through the tumblers. Knowing that - why not use an alternative that can’t be data mined. No need to make it easier for anyone to trace you down.

I Think the main issue is if you are on the radar and turning it to cash Thats where they can grab you. Still I like the idea of switching over. Any suggestions on a wallet that accepts monero with shapeshift and where its easy to convert without having to bounce it all over.

 

[bubba_bob]

Pharmahgh" pid='18946' dateline='1530717423:

I Think the main issue is if you are on the radar and turning it to cash Thats where they can grab you. Still I like the idea of switching over. Any suggestions on a wallet that accepts monero with shapeshift and where its easy to convert without having to bounce it all over.

Any monero wallet can accept money from shapeshift and send to shapeshift. I would recommend the actual official wallets since they are reviewed and should be safe to use: https://getmonero.org/downloads/
The biggest negative for Monero is that it is a little geeky to use at times. I use the command line tools but I am a geek.
Reddit forums for Monero are active and helpful: https://reddit.com/r/monero

Feel free to message me if you have questions - I don’t come here that often so I might be slow to respond.