The former deputy director of the CIA referred to Bitcoin as a transparent and highly effective cryptocurrency in the fight against money laundering and illicit activities. This while its price reaches a new historical high above $63.690 per unit.
Michael Morell, former deputy director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), published a report entitled “An analysis of the use of Bitcoin in illicit financing” where he explains how the characteristics of technology blockchain makes it highly efficient in the fight against money laundering and the financing of illicit activities.
Morell notes that his 33 years of experience as a CIA agent, protecting and promoting the national security interests of the United States, give him enough experience to recognize the importance of new technological innovations, such as Blockchain. This technology gave life to Bitcoin (BTC) in 2009, making it the world’s first successful cryptocurrency, and also a major “revolutionary technological breakthrough” that is transforming the global financial and payment system from its roots.
After analyzing the use of cryptocurrency in illicit activities and analyzing its qualities, Morell concluded that generalizing Bitcoin as a cryptocurrency that favors crime is false and quite exaggerated. Morell said that when he began his study he did not expect this result, but he would be lying if he said that Bitcoin is plagued by illicit activity; in reality, the opposite occurs. In his report, Morell points out that there is more illicit activity in the traditional financial system than in the cryptocurrency system.
The former CIA agent published the report recently, when the cryptocurrency was hovering between $60.000 and $61.000 per unit. However, at the time of this writing, Bitcoin marked a new all-time high, reaching a value of $63.693 this Wednesday, April 14th.
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A wrong perspective on Bitcoin
As Bitcoin began to gain popularity and value in society, a misperception about its meaning and importance began to form. Due to ignorance, governments, media, banks, and other financial institutions began bombarding society to convince them that Bitcoin was a dark currency that facilitated the financing of illicit activities.
Initially, Bitcoin was thought to be a digital currency that protected the privacy of its users, so it was quite frequently used by cybercriminals and malicious actors to commit their crimes. However, the usefulness of this cryptocurrency for illegal acts has decreased considerably over time. The reason? blockchain technology.
The way blockchain technology, which powers the Bitcoin system and cryptocurrency, works has gradually been discovered and understood. The qualities and characteristics of this technology, contrary to favoring illegal acts, positively favor the investigations of the authorities, helping to track and discover both the origin and destination of funds, and the marking of coins that have been involved in illicit activities.
Recently, Interpol dismantled a gang of criminals who used bitcoins to receive payments. Also, the FBI tracking several million dollars in bitcoins that appeared to be linked to the terrorist groups ISIS and Al-Qaeda; and the authorities in Spain were able to dismantle a criminal gang that was dedicated to the sale of child pornography. These are some cases in which Bitcoin and blockchain technology have favored the investigations of the authorities, thanks to their high level of transparency and immutability.
It is worth remembering that blockchain keeps an immutable record of each and every transaction that has been carried out on the network, since its inception; and that this record is visible and auditable to anyone who wants it, including governments, agencies, companies and ordinary users. Due to these characteristics, transactions within Bitcoin are completely traceable.
Bitcoin Illegal Activity Decreases
To date, dark net marketplaces and websites such as White House and Joker's Stash have either shut down or completely removed Bitcoin from their payment options due to the cryptocurrency's traceability. Even a journalist who is dedicated to providing dark net data reported that several of his followers and contributors had their Bitcoin accounts blocked.
On the other hand, as indicated by the data and information portal powered by Chainalysis, Market Intel, Bitcoin's use in illicit activities is currently 0,1% of the entire circulating supply of the currency. That is, about 181.000 BTC of the 18.682.000 BTC in circulation are being held for illicit activities.
Bitcoin: The Best Investment Asset and Store of Value
Bitcoin's high transparency has led it to become the best investment asset currently on the market, even more so than gold. Bitcoin has more than 100 million users and retail investors, and several dozen companies that are placing their trust in this cryptocurrency as a reserve asset of future value; and also as an investment asset.
As Bit2Me News previously explained, MicroStrategy is the largest institutional investor in Bitcoin, with an investment exceeding $2.200 billion. The company recently announced that it will pay its Board of Directors members in BTC.
Tesla, one of the largest car manufacturers in the United States, also invested $1.500 billion in the cryptocurrency. Other major companies, such as Stone Ridge and MassMutual, have also invested several million dollars in Bitcoin.
On the other hand, in addition to companies, governments such as Miami are looking at investing in Bitcoin to protect their treasuries from monetary inflation, and also to pay their employees in this digital currency. As we see, the perspective on Bitcoin has changed over time, and the cryptocurrency has become one of the most important assets in the global financial ecosystem.
Deutsche Bank said that Bitcoin has become an alternative and decentralized financial system that is too big and important to ignore, with a market capitalization of over $1,18 trillion, making it the third most valuable currency on the market after the dollar and the euro. Even if Bitcoin were a bank, it would rank first among the largest and most important banks globally.
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