A London based company called
Elliptic recently made a claim that only 2% of
Bitcoin transactions are unlawful. To respond to that a partnered study was created by
IBM and
MIT to check whether the statement was actually true. It "utilized Artificial Intelligence and deep learning algorithms to reach its conclusions, represents something of a landmark for the use of AI in the blockchain and cryptocurrency industry. Of the 200,000 transactions analysed throughout the study, two percent were deemed unlawful, 21 percent were considered legal, while the remaining 77 percent were left unclassified.
It's great that we are trying to use AI more, but this study does not seem to be talking in favor of it. The catastrophic part is that the vast majority of transactions (77%) were unclassified. This means we don't know the percentage of legal transactions to illegal ones even roughly, and it can be that Bitcoin is largely used for illegal stuff. And the very fact that we cannot be sure shows why the authorities might not be happy with it.
On the other hand, what kind of illegal are we talking about here? 'Cause financing terrorism is one thing and not paying taxes because the system in your country is confusing is another.