The major option today for deposits is by using "creditcards", or by using PayPal. Creditcards are usually issued by banks, and by law, in most western countries, they nowdays must (by law) have routines to prevent Money laundring. For the other major option, Paypal, I guess they try to do what they can.
Yes, banks/CC's and paypal have systems in place that can alert those looking for it to possible money laundering activity. However, these methods of deposit can actually help crooks launder fiat money through EU. See below.
How to launder fiat currency in EU:
For example, Steve, a small time drug dealer, has $20,000 US made form illegally selling drugs which he wants to clean and put in his bank without causing any red flags to go up, or at least he wants to be able to have have a legit explaination as to where he got the money from (from EU) whether flags are raised or not. If he hasn't already done so previously, the first thing he does is create a legitimate account with his ID/email/bank/credit card/paypal info/etc and makes a cc or paypal deposit. Later, he goes to any paysafecard retailer and buys 200 x $100 paysafecards at various retailers with the drug money cash - no ID required, except only to show the retailer that you are 18 years or older if they ask. As you can see from the deposit options, paysafecards are accepted by MA. Steve the drug dealer proceeeds to deposit the $20k via the paysafecards incrementally over time.
He doesn't even have to make an alt account at any point. Just play the game normally - hunt, mine, craft, trade, buy stuff, sell stuff, get his Gundam Style on at Camp Icarus, whatever. He bides his time exploring and plinking away at various mobs just like any other player would do. When he's ready, say 6 months or a year or more down the road, he starts withdrawing - again incrementally over time, he's in no hurry. He initiates withdrawal requests, MA checks his activity logs each time and sees nothing out of the ordinary, just normal play and thus processes his withdrawal requests to the his bank account. Mission accomplished. Money cleaned, even using and depositing initially with his bank/cc to set up a genuine account.
Here's another example of laundering fiat money through EU (again, helped by cc/paypal):
Again, we have Steve, the drug dealer who's end goal is to get the money he has earned from illegal activity into his legitimate bank account so that he can then invest that money and make it earn him more money legally. Steve the drug dealer creates genuine EU account with real ID/email/bank/cc/paypal infos and makes an initial legit cc or paypal deposit. He tells his drug buyer clients if they want to buy his illegal drugs, they need to create EU accounts and pay him ingame.
After building up a certain amount of PEDs, Steve then withdraws the money to his bank. Rinse and repeat each time a certain target amount of PEDs is reached. It may be harder not to raise suspicions, but since "all trades are final" and there being hundreds of jobs and services players can provide for each other for a fee/price, it's possible. And additionally, Steve the drug dealer can also play normally as described in the previous example.
So, fiat currency can be laundered through EU, just as easily as bitcoin deposits can.
One thing that has happened, is that the trader that I guess was doing 90% of the trades, Mt Gox, collapsed after getting hit by a kind of forgery. And after that, it's likely that Bitcoin has become volatile because lack of a big trader such as MtGox.
Bitcoin has gone back and forth between periods of stability and periods of volatility for various fundamental reasons all throughout its lifetime. MtGox is just one of many many fundamental events - events both positive and negative.
I can only speak for myself, but I don't think anyone advocating for MA to add an option for bitcoin deposits is trying to convince people to buy bitcoins or join the cult of bitcoin. As I said before, bitcoin isn't for everyone and everyone will have their own personal reasons as to why they would or would not allow themselves to get into bitcoin. In any case, the point of all these threads is that those, how ever many or few there are, who do have and/or are into bitcoin are simply requesting MA add an option for depositing in bitcoin.
I'm not saying that if MA were to add the option that I or others would all of the sudden start depositing tens of thousands of dollars worth of bitcoin into EU, I'm just saying it would be nice to be able to deposit money/bitcoin and not have to pay the higher fees. Again, it would just be an added option like all the other deposit options available. No one would be forced to have to go out and buy any bitcoins.
Also, again: Wasn't it possible to deposit bitcoins through, I Think, PayPal? If so, then the problem is solved for those who want to deposit bitcoins, and it will be PayPal who will take the risk if something bad happens; and PayPal
No, sorry, the problem isn't "solved" with paypal (LOL) - because of the fees that would be associated with paypal.
(or an external Company that handles deposits) are probably better equipped for it than MA.
YES, this! Absolutely this. This is all that we've been saying/asking for the whole time, nothing more. Using a bitcoin payment processor such as Bitpay or some other would just be an added option for depositing. It would allow MA to accept bitcoin deposits without actually having to hold any bitcoin at any point. And thus, at no point would MA be subject to the volatility of bitcoin price fluctuations someone were to deposit $100 US worth of bitcoin to EU via a bitcoin payment processor, MA would receive $100 US worth of whatever fiat currency it wanted, US, SEk, ?euro, whatever, even bitcoin or partially in bitcoin if they wanted.
And yes, as to your concerns, MA wouldn't have to worry where the bitcoin came from as far as illegal activity, already laundered/from a btc mixing service. That would be the processor's concern. There would likely be fees involved, but they would be minimal - much less than credit card/paypal fees for sure. In any case, MA would just pass the fee cost to the player depositing as they already do now at the time of deposit. The benefit to the player depositing btc via the btc processor is that the fees would be minimal, significantly less.
MA would still have to be vigilant as usual against money laundering either way - whether it's fiat or bitcoin deposit. But as long as they report and comply/cooperate with law enforcement authorities and aren't complicit with any form of money laundering or fraud, there shouldn't be any problem as far as MA getting into trouble.
