The High Court in Ireland ruled that part of the cryptocurrencies held by a man who is currently serving prison terms is the result of proceeds of crime. Criminal Assets Bureau, a police agency in Ireland, initiated proceedings against Neil Mannion in 2015.
They claimed that the funds contained in his bank accounts, credit cards and Bitcoins were the proceeds of the crime. However, not until another research in 2016 discovered that he also owned 2000 units of Ether, worth about € 25,000.
Niel Mannion had possessed Ether before they began trading in any exchange. So, the argument of Mannion was that, since Ether had not become a currency traded, then the agents of the order forces had no right to search the computer devices again in 2016 to capture them when now I'm a currency.
Judge Justice Carmel Stewart, the presiding judge, dismissed Mannion's arguments that his constitutional rights were broken. Niel, who was arrested in 2014, admitted trade on darknet sites, the Silk Road and the Agora under a false name, Hulkster. The court has now considered all of its assets the proceeds of crime, including the bitcoin and the ether found in its possession.
Cryptocurrency used to finance the dark web
Silk Road, hidden on the darknet, was live in 2011, just two years after the birth of bitcoins. One million customers use eBay of the dark web to buy drugs online. And it depended on the anonymity of bitcoins.
Ross Ulbricht, the founder of Silk Road, has gained global notoriety and fed the misunderstanding that cryptocurrencies were created to finance illegal activities. Since then reports have continued to spread that bitcoin that is applicable to support terrorism. Furthermore, some have suggested that most transactions are illegal.
Only three months ago over a billion dollars in bitcoins transferred from different portfolios. All linked to the original Silk Road cold storage portfolio.
Fugibility of cryptocurrencies
Feasibility means that each object of a particular set is worth the same amount. In bitcoin, fungibility means that all bitcoins have the same value. However, blockchain helps to track bitcoins, traders may refuse to accept bitcoins to fund drug distribution, gambling, money laundering. It means that some cryptocurrencies marked for illegal activities are not accessible, making them worthless.
But since the launch of Bitcoin, there have been more projects to increase the fungibility of cryptocurrencies. Private cryptocurrencies like Monero and Zcash ensure that every currency is entirely untraceable.
Check out the free Cryptocurrency Ticker prices on Coinpedia.
Summary
Item name
Deal with cryptocurrencies that are criminal proceeds
Description
Criminal Assets Bureau, the forces of order in Ireland, seized about 2000 units of Ether, worth about 25,000 euros because they were proceeds of crime.
Author
Feranmi Akeredolu
Publisher name
Coinpedia
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