because crypto can be untraceable, it’s possible to convert actual money into it via buying it, then pass the money along without a strong paper trail. This is one of the reasons Ancaps and silkroaders are so into currencies like bitcoin.
edit: I should add an example, so uhm.
Hypothetically speaking, let’s say someone stole a few thousand dollars from the company they work for. They could use that money, straight from the company account, to buy bitcoin. That bitcoin is sent to their crypto wallet anonymously, they then use it to buy an NFT that they put onto the market, thus adding a respectable but not suspicious inflow of money into their bank account.
Bid an obscene amount of money on NFTs, then sell them because pretty much no cryptobro questions why they’re actually that expensive. I mean, look at the damn pictures of the monkeys. Why would something hidious be worth so much?
But that’s not really money laundering, more like value inflating. On top of that you need someone else to buy your overpriced NFT and I’m not sure I can envision a crypto billionaire buying an ape picture at 15 million $ when the previous owner bought it for 7.
I definitely see the bubble though, and people hoping that by buying at 15 million they’ll be able to resell at 25 million.
The biggest NFT merchants are already bourgeois, I don’t remember the exact stat though.
My question is how can you launder money using NFTs?
because crypto can be untraceable, it’s possible to convert actual money into it via buying it, then pass the money along without a strong paper trail. This is one of the reasons Ancaps and silkroaders are so into currencies like bitcoin.
edit: I should add an example, so uhm.
Hypothetically speaking, let’s say someone stole a few thousand dollars from the company they work for. They could use that money, straight from the company account, to buy bitcoin. That bitcoin is sent to their crypto wallet anonymously, they then use it to buy an NFT that they put onto the market, thus adding a respectable but not suspicious inflow of money into their bank account.
Bid an obscene amount of money on NFTs, then sell them because pretty much no cryptobro questions why they’re actually that expensive. I mean, look at the damn pictures of the monkeys. Why would something hidious be worth so much?
But that’s not really money laundering, more like value inflating. On top of that you need someone else to buy your overpriced NFT and I’m not sure I can envision a crypto billionaire buying an ape picture at 15 million $ when the previous owner bought it for 7.
I definitely see the bubble though, and people hoping that by buying at 15 million they’ll be able to resell at 25 million.
The exact same way it’s done with art.
See if you had refined taste like me you’d know this painting is actually worth $100 million