Will criminal elements leverage cryptocurrencies? Criminal organizations as early adopters of technology, operating at the nexus of highest risk and highest reward. Money, by definition, is something you can use to buy anything. The more restrictions it comes with, the more it loses the fundamental principle of medium of exchange. I bet it's a lot easier to buy drugs with the New Zealand dollar than it is with bitcoin.
Criminals will use money, but what we need to understand is that the tool is not the crime and has never been the crime. 99% of humanity is going to use money and other tools to feed our children, give them healthcare, education, and a better future.
I'm not concerned with solving crime through attempting to control money. The organization you give the absolute power over money to, will become the criminal and punish not other criminals but their political opponents. We need to start thinking about separation of money and state, and understand that it just as important as the separation of church and state.
Transcript
[AUDIENCE] Taking the concept of multi-nationals a bit further... It is fair to say that crime follows money, leverages money. You can see that, if cryptocurrency comes... Any thoughts on how the criminal element will start to leverage this?
Well, one interesting thing about criminal organizations is that they are early adopters of technology. [Laughter] They are. They operate at the nexus of highest risk and highest reward, which makes them seek... competitive advantage at a higher rate than any other organization.
Criminal organizations take advantage of technology. As early adopters, they use it to their advantage. Telephones, cars, even shoes I'm sure. They are all exploited first by criminals.
If the police don't have shoes and you do, you can run away [faster]. Automobiles were just the next step in that glorious plan. Bitcoin is money. By definition, money is something you can use to buy anything.
If you can't use it to buy anything, it is not money. It is a voucher, loyalty card, or gift card maybe. But it is not really money. If it comes with [inherent] restrictions on how you can use it, it is not money.
It has lost the fundamental [function] of medium of exchange. Can you buy drugs with bitcoin? Of course you can. Otherwise, it wouldn't be money.
I bet that it would be a lot easier to buy drugs with New Zealand dollars than bitcoin. But you are right: criminals will use money. We need to understand that the tool is not the crime; the tool has never been the crime. Societies that try to banish the use of hammers because hammers can be used to hit someone...
over the head, or build a 'Habitat for Humanity' home, are going down the wrong path. The truth is, as human beings, 99.9% of us will use money to feed our children, give them healthcare, sanitation, education, and a better future. That is what human beings do with money. Just like we use the internet to store the world's largest repository of cat videos.
[Laughter] Yes, sure, there is some porn there. But in the end, the benefits of this technology far outweigh the risks. I'm not concerned with solving crime through the control of money. When you try to solve crime through the control of money, the [organization] you give control of money to becomes the criminal, then the greatest criminal.
Then they use that money to commit genocide. Every time in history, the absolute power over money corrupts absolutely. We need to start thinking about separation of money and state. It is just as important as separation of church and state.
Maybe in New Zealand, money that is controlled by single governments works well. [Good for you]. You have one of the more benevolent governments in the world. The rest are not like that.
The rest abuse the power over money to punish their political opponents. They use the bank controls not to stop criminals, but to stop their political opposition. Just ask Putin. It is part of his playbook.
When you [take] control over [the monetary system] in order to fight crime, the person in control... [tends to commit] the crimes, the greatest crimes.