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How ‘Trustless’ Is Bitcoin, Really?
- jqpabc123 4y agoBlockchain accounting is fairly "trustless". Unfortunately, it takes more than accounting to run a marketplace. Many of the people involved in the crypto marketplace are also "trustless" --- as in no sensible person should trust them. The lack of regulation leaves the crypto "marketplace" wide open to a whole range of fraud --- insider trading, pump and dump, unrestricted minting of "stable" coins that are anything but "stable", etc.,etc., --- all for fun but mostly for profit.
- janandonly 4y agoThe article mainly talks about bitcoin's first two years after inception. Very few people ran a node back then. Interesting quote: The study’s purpose was not to name names; it’s the job of the F.B.I. and the I.R.S. to bust Bitcoin criminals. But the researchers pinpointed the identities of a couple of the top players who were publicly known Bitcoin criminals: Agent No. 19 is Michael Mancil Brown, a.k.a. “Dr. Evil,” who was found guilty of a 2012 fraud and extortion scheme involving Mitt Romney, then a candidate for president. Agent No. 67 is associated with Ross Ulbricht, a.k.a. “DreadPirateRoberts,” creator of the Silk Road. Naturally, Agent No. 1 is Satoshi Nakamoto — whose true identity the researchers did not try to determine.