Bitcoin Exchange CEO Arrested

Bitcoin Exchange CEO Arrested

With the new wave of Bitcoin increasingly becoming popular worldwide, many illegal activities such as money laundering of Bitcoins are growing too. As we know, Bitcoin is the wildly-growing online currency. But many people were using it to run scams and money laundering businesses. BitInstant is a Bitcoin exchange company and their CEO Charlie Shrem was arrested at JFK airport and charged with money laundering. Shrem and his co-conspirator have been accused of selling more than $1 million in Bitcoin to users of a website called Silk Road. The users of these websites would then go on to buy illegal drugs and items with these Bitcoins. Even Charlie himself is accused of buying drugs on Silk Road. A DEA agent stated that both defendants hid behind their computers, willingly contributed and facilitated anonymous drug sales, while making tons of money along the way.

This is quite some shocking news. Charlie Shrem is a vice chairman at the Bitcoin foundation and was listed to speak at a Bitcoin conference in Miami. How can such a professional and well known man commit such a pathetic crime? This guy wasn’t a street rat who wanted to make money in illegal ways. He was already CEO of a popular Bitcoin exchange. What were his reasons to commit this crime? Turns out that BitInstant itself is under suspicion for misrepresentation of it’s services.

Arrests concerning money laundering Bitcoins have been growing. While Bitcoin is trying hard to become popular and a successful online currency, criminals are using it to their advantage and scamming people. It’s even more surprising to know that CEOs of Bitcoin exchanges are getting involved in this illegal business. With more arrests occurring, maybe these criminals will think twice before attempting to start money laundering with Bitcoin. All in all, Bitcoin takes quite a hit because major countries like China and India look at these arrests and continue to doubt Bitcoins, and it’s worth. People will also try and avoid exchanging and dealing in Bitcoins because they will have a fear that they might be scammed.

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