Thanks for the detailed reply. Had a follow up question on some things. > 1. When you trade Bitcoins into fiat money with an exchange you reveal your true nam

Thanks for the detailed reply. Had a follow up question on some things. > 1. When you trade Bitcoins into fiat money with an exchange you reveal your true name. I get that. But how are the hackers who stole / continue to steal from exchanges like in the Mt Gox hack -- and more recently, the CoinCheck[1] -- hack, able to get away with it? See CoinCheck link and quote below. Important takeaway is > Coincheck has identified and published 11 addresses where all 523 million of the stolen coins ended up. You can see for yourself online. Trouble is, no one knows who owns the accounts From what I understand, in both cases, hackers hacked into the Exchange, stole the Private Keys to the "Hot Wallets" holding large amounts of the coin (bitcoin, NEM etc) and then transfered the coins into their own "Wallet" which isn't tied to any exchange. So as far as bitcoin or NEM is concerned, this transfer was/is a legitimate ledger transaction as the private key from sender was used to deposit the coins into receiver (hackers' ) wallet. Not trolling, really would like to know the following 1) How are exchange hackers able to remain anonymous and not get caught. 2) How do they move the coins they stole and cash out on FIAT? Obviously (or maybe not) these hackers wouldn't be buying stuff and shipping to their home address, so #2 above is moot. 3) Is it possible (wearing my conspiracy theorist hat here) that these exchange CEOs / Founders perpetrate the hack themselves, so they can declare a loss, and then take possession of the coins and use the anonymity to cash out at a later date? [1] How to Steal $500 Million in Cryptocurrency http://fortune.com/2018/01/31/coincheck-hack-how/ http://fortune.com/2018/01/31/coincheck-hack-how/ > 2. Where did the stolen coins go? > That’s one of the stranger aspects of these heists. Because transactions for Bitcoin and the like are all public, it’s easy to see where the NEM coins are — even though they’re stolen. Coincheck has identified and published 11 addresses where all 523 million of the stolen coins ended up. You can see for yourself online. Trouble is, no one knows who owns the accounts.