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I mean, of course? It seems like it could be a pretty useful tool for open-source intelligence gathering. > "If it came out (and was proven) that Bitcoin was
by tablespoon 5y ago
I mean, of course? It seems like it could be a pretty useful tool for open-source intelligence gathering.
> "If it came out (and was proven) that Bitcoin was created by the CIA, it wouldn’t significantly diminish my bullishness. The only thing it would change is my view of Satoshi. But, crucially, Satoshi is not Bitcoin. That connection was severed years ago," tweeted Spencer Schiff, who is a Bitcoin promoter and the son of stock broker and anti-crypto advocate Peter Schiff.
Honestly, I'd be surprised if anything would diminish the bullishness of a "Bitcoin promoter." They often give off this weird power of positive thinking vibe where they treat their desired goal as an axiom. Isn't the joke that they'll respond "_____ is good for Bitcoin" in response to pretty much anything, good or bad?
- rich_sasha 5y agoPlus a perfect way to fund spies and dissidents. Bank transfers too easy to track, cash incriminating, handing over a public key for a one-off account trivial.
- tablespoon 5y ago> Plus a perfect way to fund spies and dissidents. Bank transfers too easy to track, cash incriminating, handing over a public key for a one-off account trivial. No? The reasons Bitcoin is useful for open-source intelligence are the exact same reasons why it would be a terrible choice for those use cases. I hope the the CIA isn't dumb enough to have their spies use cryptocurrency that leaves a public record the Chinese Ministry of State Security can trace, now or in the future. Bitcoin does not provide privacy, since any opsec failure, now or in the future, will compromise it.
- nextaccountic 5y agoBitcoin no, but Monero or ZCash, yes
- rich_sasha 5y agoYou know exactly what address got what. But one-off addresses? What exactly are you going to trace? Then you exfiltrate your spy and they have their goodies safely awaiting them.
- DougN7 5y agoWhat’s a one-off address? It somehow got coins attached to it, and they came from somewhere, which is shown on the ledger. And whoever receives the coins will eventually want to spend them, which will also be shown in the ledger.
- nonameiguess 5y agoFunding spies and dissidents has never been a challenge. The challenge is it's very difficult for them to spend more money than they officially earn without drawing the attention of their home government's counterintel operations. No currency can solve this because it isn't the transfer of currency that gives you away. It's the receipt of whatever you purchased.
- voldacar 5y agoAlso a way to raise untraceable funds, like the cocaine smuggling thing.
- kgwxd 5y ago> Isn't the joke that they'll respond "_____ is good for Bitcoin" in response to pretty much anything, good or bad? I filled in the best and worst things I could think of and the result is "false" for the best but "true" for the worst. I picked post-scarcity for "best". I'll leave "worst" as an exercise for the reader.
- pyuser583 5y agoMy hypothesis is that bitcoin was invented by a contractor at the CIA/NSA/etc. Tons of security/crypto nerds who are strongly discouraged from doing outside projects, and often too much spare time. Also explains why the $55 billion in bitcoins is sitting there: their contracts forbid them from outside projects, and their employers are allowed to keep any proceeds from illicit projects. I’m sure B. Allen would love $55bil in bitcoin. I mean if you look at the skill set necessary to the create bitcoin, and who possesss that skill set, the US intelligence establishment seems like a good candidate.
- mrkramer 5y agoYour hypothesis is wrong because money was never invented by the government but by the people as medium of exchange for everyday trading.
- lifeplusplus 5y agoCompletely ignores the point of op and rebute with some random aisine point