Cyber-Criminals Abandon Bitcoin; Homeland Admits “It’s A Lot More Legitimate Than People Think”

Regulators in the US, Europe and Asia who’ve sought to crack down on bitcoin – many of these regulators are also proponents of a ‘cashless society’ – have been dealt a stunning setback by an unlikely defender of the pioneering digital currency: The US Department of Homeland Security.
To wit, one anonymous DHS source told CNBC that bitcoin has become ‘a lot more legitimate’ than many believe.
“We’re getting a lot better through law enforcement tracking those [criminals] and holding the exchanges more accountable,” the Homeland Security official said. “I think [bitcoin]’s a lot more legitimate than people give it credit for.”
Another source told CNBC that criminals have backed away from using the digital currency as bitcoin transactions have become much easier for authorities to trace. Earlier this month, the IRS announced that it had developed, with the help of bitcoin security firm Chainalysis, a tool to unmask the owners of bitcoin wallets.

This post was published at Zero Hedge on Aug 31, 2017.