Costa Rica News – Some say controversy is the best form of free advertising. Such seems to be the case ever since the FBI arrested Ross William Ulbricht last week for allowing sellers to post ads for drugs and illegal products to be sold for Bitcoins. They seized $3.6 million worth of bitcoins. That sounds like a lot, but everyone asked “What the heck is a Bitcoin?” Another controversy surrounding Bitcoins was a brothel in the U.K. offering sex for bitcoins.
So, as you have probably taken from the context, Bitcoin is a type of currency. This virtual cybercurrency started in 2009, as the world’s first decentralized, peer-to-peer internet currency. It’s used on sites relating to gaming, music, and electronics, mainly. Tech-savvy people have embraced it and made it popular. The best feature is that there is no currency exchange. It freely crosses all borders. To use the system, sign up at Bitcoin.org. You just set up an anonymous digital wallet and ID number.
The controversy comes in because of how easy it makes illicit activities and money laundering. The records are stored on thousands of worldwide servers that are updated every ten minutes. Bitcoin cannot be regulated by any government, making it preferable to most other payment types used for international business.
What it has to do with Costa Rica starts with that 15% of tourists come for sex tourism. These clients would like the discretion of a cyber currency.
Secondly, drug cartels have been moving into Costa Rica and Bitcoin would help them hide money. It definitely has the possibility for evil, but so does just about every money system ever made, right?
Another use of Bitcoins is to gamble online, instead of having to come to Costa Rica to gamble. On Just-Dice.com, a user took home 11,000 bitcoins (about $1.3 million) in one weekend. Since it’s an unregulated system, there are no cash records or transaction records and taxes are not taken out.
Finally, tourists in Costa Rica won’t have to deal with 15% credit card fees. They can easily use and share Bitcoins by scanning their code, touching two phones together, or entering their Bitcoin Wallet account number. It’s fast and easy, but not necessarily reliable, since there is no government to complain to if you get ripped off or the system disappears offline randomly, after putting all your money there.
So what better place for bitcoins to set up as an accepted currency than the place where scammers and thieves have come to call home. The movie Runner, Runner has come out exposing the dark side of the land of “Pura Vida” and the FBI recently made an arrest of fraud using bitcoins, Costa Rica’s sinners opened their eyes and want to bring them here.
