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The same could be said for any number of things we consider to be private property. Unless you physically can see with your own eyes everything that you "own",

The same could be said for any number of things we consider to be private property. Unless you physically can see with your own eyes everything that you "own", how do you know some bad actor hasn't run off with it? Well, our society gives us a whole bunch of protections in place which give us some peace of mind (security systems, laws, etc.), but you can't know for sure without some verification. So if you have the private key in your hand, and the address with your Bitcoin still has Bitcoin, while someone else could have your private key, why wouldn't they just transfer the money out?

jjnoakes 8y ago
> The same could be said for any number of things we consider to be private property. Except if we are wrong in those other cases, we can usually use the legal system to help us recover our stolen property. > So if you have the private key in your hand, and the address with your Bitcoin still has Bitcoin, while someone else could have your private key, why wouldn't they just transfer the money out? Maybe they are waiting for you to deposit more bitcoin into that address, or maybe they are waiting to collect more private keys before exploiting them all at the same time, or maybe they... why speculate? The idea that money can disappear without recourse because of one mistake in security or one highly motivated targeted attack is not, in my opinion, a desirable property of a currency.
- theli0nheart 8y ago
  > Maybe they are waiting for you to deposit more bitcoin into that address, or maybe they are waiting to collect more private keys before exploiting them all at the same time, or maybe they... why speculate? Well, from a criminal's point of view, I don't see the upside in waiting. The owner of the coins could move them at any time, and then your loot is gone for good. I think it's safe to assume that if someone else has possession of your private keys, your addresses will be drained immediately.
  - jjnoakes 8y ago
    Sure, maybe for a random target. Maybe for a targeted attack the criminal knows more money is coming in and doesn't want to tip his hand yet. Who knows... that's the point of not speculating.

jjnoakes 8y ago

> The same could be said for any number of things we consider to be private property. Except if we are wrong in those other cases, we can usually use the legal system to help us recover our stolen property. > So if you have the private key in your hand, and the address with your Bitcoin still has Bitcoin, while someone else could have your private key, why wouldn't they just transfer the money out? Maybe they are waiting for you to deposit more bitcoin into that address, or maybe they are waiting to collect more private keys before exploiting them all at the same time, or maybe they... why speculate? The idea that money can disappear without recourse because of one mistake in security or one highly motivated targeted attack is not, in my opinion, a desirable property of a currency.

theli0nheart 8y ago
> Maybe they are waiting for you to deposit more bitcoin into that address, or maybe they are waiting to collect more private keys before exploiting them all at the same time, or maybe they... why speculate? Well, from a criminal's point of view, I don't see the upside in waiting. The owner of the coins could move them at any time, and then your loot is gone for good. I think it's safe to assume that if someone else has possession of your private keys, your addresses will be drained immediately.
- jjnoakes 8y ago
  Sure, maybe for a random target. Maybe for a targeted attack the criminal knows more money is coming in and doesn't want to tip his hand yet. Who knows... that's the point of not speculating.