4 ms·

Actually you don't need to get it to cash, change it to another crypto such as LTC or ether on an exchange, send it off exchange to another exchange and buy bac

Actually you don't need to get it to cash, change it to another crypto such as LTC or ether on an exchange, send it off exchange to another exchange and buy back btc to have unlinked coins. You could also use a mixer for the alt coin as you move it between exchanges for further obfuscation. Most exchanges that deal in alt coins only require ID/verification if you want to exchange to fiat, so crypto to crypto can be done on anonymous accounts.

venantius 9y ago
Sure, except that exchange will have a record of the transaction. So as long as they're still in business, the authorities can go to them and request them to provide a record of the transaction, and you have both wallet IDs.
joosters 9y ago
And this might be one reason why the US went after this guy - the BTC-e exchange was extremely popular for laundering criminal money. A google research talk showed over 95% of bitcoin ransoms were cashed out via BTC-e. Once the US have this guy in custody, they can then get their hands on the server transaction records, and chase down the criminals who extorted money from people and companies in the US.
EGreg 9y ago
If you think about it, we are one step away from tracking everyone's crypto transactions. That step is putting pressure on exchanges to blacklist coins that have been through a mixer. Cash is the ultimate mixer because of lack of technology. But it's not hard to put pressure on exchanges. This is why digital money is ultimately traceable. And the most tracdabke money is one that has a global, distributed ledger :) Far better to have trustlines. You would have to track down friends of friends, and deanonymize people's public keys. Unlike Bitcoin, anyone can start a trustline with anyone else without authorization from the government :)

4 ms·

Actually you don't need to get it to cash, change it to another crypto such as LTC or ether on an exchange, send it off exchange to another exchange and buy bac

by celticninja 9y ago

venantius 9y ago
Sure, except that exchange will have a record of the transaction. So as long as they're still in business, the authorities can go to them and request them to provide a record of the transaction, and you have both wallet IDs.
joosters 9y ago
And this might be one reason why the US went after this guy - the BTC-e exchange was extremely popular for laundering criminal money. A google research talk showed over 95% of bitcoin ransoms were cashed out via BTC-e. Once the US have this guy in custody, they can then get their hands on the server transaction records, and chase down the criminals who extorted money from people and companies in the US.
EGreg 9y ago
If you think about it, we are one step away from tracking everyone's crypto transactions. That step is putting pressure on exchanges to blacklist coins that have been through a mixer. Cash is the ultimate mixer because of lack of technology. But it's not hard to put pressure on exchanges. This is why digital money is ultimately traceable. And the most tracdabke money is one that has a global, distributed ledger :) Far better to have trustlines. You would have to track down friends of friends, and deanonymize people's public keys. Unlike Bitcoin, anyone can start a trustline with anyone else without authorization from the government :)