A Dutch judge has succeeded in purchasing an illegal fire weapon from the US over the internet using Bitcoins as payment method, this was done as an experiment to see how far it was possible to go with Bitcoins.
The experiment was also a way to show how easy it is and dangerous to purchase illegal products using Bitcoins as payment methods, since transactions can’t be traced and are done anonymously it is a great way to purchase illegal products over the internet.
The item was purchased on a ebay-like website on the Deep web using the Tor network, the illegal semi-automatic weapon was purchased from a 25 year old American which has since then been put in custody, the weapon was send using regular mailing service and disguised as a DVD player which allowed it to get passed security (for those wondering how they found this man, he was tracked through the package he send to the dutch authorities and not the bitcoin transaction). Virtual currencies have their advantages over non-virtual currencies but people using them to purchase illegal products could seriously harm the future of the coin.
Without doubt this experiment will harm the adoption of Bitcoins in Holland and Dutch authorities are investigating the virtual currency to see if it is a threat for the government.
