If you're running a coin mixing service that makes the coins anonymous to others then as soon as a single transaction is true money laundering (from criminal activity), then you're liable for that. If a single Fed sting operation on silkroad buys drugs for some bitcoin that afterwards gets to your service - you're going down.
Pretty much the only way to do so 'properly' would require you to make the coins anonymous to the public, but ID all of your customers and keep records on who actually gets which coins in the end.
Like the other commenter, you're speaking to a different angle. I was commenting strictly on the repeated blanket statements made throughout these comments that any concealing of the source of money == money laundering. I was not speaking to liability ramifications of running a coin mixing service at all. I wasn't even contending that there might not be legitimate claims made against bitcoin activity that could be money laundering. The act of concealing where money came from as a general principle is not itself money laundering. Yes, running a service that facilitates concealing the source of money can quickly become a target and risk liability for laundering activities. That is still, however, an entirely different point.
Comments
If you're running a coin mixing service that makes the coins anonymous to others then as soon as a single transaction is true money laundering (from criminal activity), then you're liable for that. If a single Fed sting operation on silkroad buys drugs for some bitcoin that afterwards gets to your service - you're going down.
Pretty much the only way to do so 'properly' would require you to make the coins anonymous to the public, but ID all of your customers and keep records on who actually gets which coins in the end.
Like the other commenter, you're speaking to a different angle. I was commenting strictly on the repeated blanket statements made throughout these comments that any concealing of the source of money == money laundering. I was not speaking to liability ramifications of running a coin mixing service at all. I wasn't even contending that there might not be legitimate claims made against bitcoin activity that could be money laundering. The act of concealing where money came from as a general principle is not itself money laundering. Yes, running a service that facilitates concealing the source of money can quickly become a target and risk liability for laundering activities. That is still, however, an entirely different point.