5 ms·

One of the linked transactions: https://www.blockchain.com/explorer/transactions/btc/432ded946431a9612f09d73bd15ded045d11d1095ffdfe8d68306ea9b2e78930 https://ww

One of the linked transactions: https://www.blockchain.com/explorer/transactions/btc/432ded946431a9612f09d73bd15ded045d11d1095ffdfe8d68306ea9b2e78930 https://www.blockchain.com/explorer/transactions/btc/432ded9... The destination address (https://www.blockchain.com/explorer/addresses/btc/1YAR6opJCfDjBNdn5bV8b5Mcu84tv92fa https://www.blockchain.com/explorer/addresses/btc/1YAR6opJCf...) seems to have received ~216 BTC yesterday in the span of 4 minutes

sillysaurusx 4y ago
The hacker will have a rough time converting these to USD without exposing himself. If they’re in Russia they probably don’t need to care, but there’s a reasonable chance they live in a country that the FBI can reach. On the other hand, no one can do anything until the coins are moved or more information is uncovered. What a nightmare to lose $3.6m overnight.
- mrtksn 4y ago
  Or just make a deal with someone in Russia?
  - sillysaurusx 4y ago
    That’ll likely go about as well as making a deal in RuneScape. Though the hacker doesn’t have many options.
- integricho 4y ago
  couldn't he convert it to monero, perform a couple of wallet to wallet transfers (maybe even divide the amount along the way), and then sell from there?
- Yizahi 4y ago
  Just use Defi - take a loan from a "smart" script with a collateral of tainted bittokens, then cash out loaned tokens, and never repay the loan. Isn't Finance 2.0 amazing? :)
  - postcynical 4y ago
    Not gonna work. Your loaned tokens are traceable back to your tainted bitcoins (in this case wrapped btc on ethereum).
- moogly 4y ago
  Does the FBI care about individuals losing bitcoins?
  - frozencell 4y ago
    Yes, I think it funds their war in Ukraine
tgsovlerkhgsel 4y ago
Isn't it surprising that an early Bitcoin adopter has "only" 216 Bitcoin? Didn't he join at a time where you'd be mining full blocks solo? (One of his later tweets claimed that "it's basically all gone" or something like that, implying this wasn't just a small fraction of his total coins.)
- Thorrez 4y ago
  It looks like his oldest commit is from February 28, 2011[1], and the first pool was created in 2010[2]. I'm not sure when he started using bitcoin. [1] https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/commits?after=d8bdee0fc889def7c5f5076da13db4fce0a3728a+454&author=luke-jr https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/commits?after=d8bdee0fc88... [2] https://compassmining.io/education/bitcoin-mining-pools-historical-timeline https://compassmining.io/education/bitcoin-mining-pools-hist...
- jki275 4y ago
  People forget bitcoin wasn't worth anything for a long time. You take care of an asset worth millions very differently than an asset worth pennies and too much of a pain to transact for cash anyway.
  - dannyw 4y ago
    Someone being around since 2011 and believing in bitcoin, and only having hundreds of BTC today is implausibly rare. Back in 2011, a desktop CPU would mine thousands of bitcoins per month.
    - lostmsu 4y ago
      No, that's factually wrong. In 2011 you would need to mine with at least a GPU, and a single one would barely produce 100 bitcoins in a year if not less.
    - jki275 4y ago
      You're thinking of 2009, when it was first released and nobody knew anything about it. I know that by the time I even looked at it in 2011 you couldn't mine anything with a desktop CPU.

sillysaurusx 4y ago

The hacker will have a rough time converting these to USD without exposing himself. If they’re in Russia they probably don’t need to care, but there’s a reasonable chance they live in a country that the FBI can reach. On the other hand, no one can do anything until the coins are moved or more information is uncovered. What a nightmare to lose $3.6m overnight.

mrtksn 4y ago
Or just make a deal with someone in Russia?
- sillysaurusx 4y ago
  That’ll likely go about as well as making a deal in RuneScape. Though the hacker doesn’t have many options.
integricho 4y ago
couldn't he convert it to monero, perform a couple of wallet to wallet transfers (maybe even divide the amount along the way), and then sell from there?
Yizahi 4y ago
Just use Defi - take a loan from a "smart" script with a collateral of tainted bittokens, then cash out loaned tokens, and never repay the loan. Isn't Finance 2.0 amazing? :)
- postcynical 4y ago
  Not gonna work. Your loaned tokens are traceable back to your tainted bitcoins (in this case wrapped btc on ethereum).
moogly 4y ago
Does the FBI care about individuals losing bitcoins?
- frozencell 4y ago
  Yes, I think it funds their war in Ukraine

tgsovlerkhgsel 4y ago

Isn't it surprising that an early Bitcoin adopter has "only" 216 Bitcoin? Didn't he join at a time where you'd be mining full blocks solo? (One of his later tweets claimed that "it's basically all gone" or something like that, implying this wasn't just a small fraction of his total coins.)

Thorrez 4y ago
It looks like his oldest commit is from February 28, 2011[1], and the first pool was created in 2010[2]. I'm not sure when he started using bitcoin. [1] https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/commits?after=d8bdee0fc889def7c5f5076da13db4fce0a3728a+454&author=luke-jr https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/commits?after=d8bdee0fc88... [2] https://compassmining.io/education/bitcoin-mining-pools-historical-timeline https://compassmining.io/education/bitcoin-mining-pools-hist...
jki275 4y ago
People forget bitcoin wasn't worth anything for a long time. You take care of an asset worth millions very differently than an asset worth pennies and too much of a pain to transact for cash anyway.
- dannyw 4y ago
  Someone being around since 2011 and believing in bitcoin, and only having hundreds of BTC today is implausibly rare. Back in 2011, a desktop CPU would mine thousands of bitcoins per month.
  - lostmsu 4y ago
    No, that's factually wrong. In 2011 you would need to mine with at least a GPU, and a single one would barely produce 100 bitcoins in a year if not less.
  - jki275 4y ago
    You're thinking of 2009, when it was first released and nobody knew anything about it. I know that by the time I even looked at it in 2011 you couldn't mine anything with a desktop CPU.