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Seems like a chicken and egg problem. The crypto currency space is currently so fraught with fraud and crime that I assume no sensible insurer would touch it wi

Seems like a chicken and egg problem. The crypto currency space is currently so fraught with fraud and crime that I assume no sensible insurer would touch it with a long stick. Insurers need a boatload of seed capital and - if they would be to act as expert intermediaries as you suggest - must invest lots and lots of R&D to due diligence. But as long as ETH mostly remains a get rich quick scheme for computer criminals, any such insurer party would only stand to loose all seed capital they invested.

grandalf 9y ago
Hah I am not sure if you are joking. > The crypto currency space is currently so fraught with fraud and crime The lack of KYC requirements has led to some criminals using cryptocurrencies, but BTC is fully public and so money laundering, counterfeiting, and tax evasion both go away when we move to a public blockchain. Those three crimes are all so much bigger and more costly to society than the petty crime that has fled KYC to use the blockchain that I think the truth is the opposite of your insinuation.
- lsc 9y ago
  >but BTC is fully public and so money laundering, counterfeiting, and tax evasion both go away when we move to a public blockchain. So you believe that all the public mixers are compromised? It's certainly possible, but even so, they clearly aren't publicly compromised, and as such, I'd argue that tracking down large amounts of money moved conventionally is easier than tracking down large amounts of money through the blockchain, as last I read, traditionally, btc was sent through mixers quite often.
  - grandalf 9y ago
    If money laundering is illegal, and the owner of a BTC address sends money to a mixer, it's pretty easy for law enforcement to identify the person involved in money laundering. If a person isn't linked to KYC in any way and the coins are anonyously owned, then it's a bit harder, but as BTC becomes more mainstream it becomes increasingly difficult to prevent most transactions from touching KYC-regulated accounts. As a borderline anarchist I'm not arguing this is a great thing, but it nonetheless offers a much more efficient path to enforcing money laundering laws. FWIW I suspect some are compromised. Also, mixing adds cost, and so even if money laundering happens but is heavily taxed by this additional cost there is some utility to the blockchain based system.

grandalf 9y ago

Hah I am not sure if you are joking. > The crypto currency space is currently so fraught with fraud and crime The lack of KYC requirements has led to some criminals using cryptocurrencies, but BTC is fully public and so money laundering, counterfeiting, and tax evasion both go away when we move to a public blockchain. Those three crimes are all so much bigger and more costly to society than the petty crime that has fled KYC to use the blockchain that I think the truth is the opposite of your insinuation.

lsc 9y ago
>but BTC is fully public and so money laundering, counterfeiting, and tax evasion both go away when we move to a public blockchain. So you believe that all the public mixers are compromised? It's certainly possible, but even so, they clearly aren't publicly compromised, and as such, I'd argue that tracking down large amounts of money moved conventionally is easier than tracking down large amounts of money through the blockchain, as last I read, traditionally, btc was sent through mixers quite often.
- grandalf 9y ago
  If money laundering is illegal, and the owner of a BTC address sends money to a mixer, it's pretty easy for law enforcement to identify the person involved in money laundering. If a person isn't linked to KYC in any way and the coins are anonyously owned, then it's a bit harder, but as BTC becomes more mainstream it becomes increasingly difficult to prevent most transactions from touching KYC-regulated accounts. As a borderline anarchist I'm not arguing this is a great thing, but it nonetheless offers a much more efficient path to enforcing money laundering laws. FWIW I suspect some are compromised. Also, mixing adds cost, and so even if money laundering happens but is heavily taxed by this additional cost there is some utility to the blockchain based system.