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If I had $470 million in stolen crypto, I would target to keep around 10% of that, and with the other 90%, just send them to random crypto wallets around the wo

If I had $470 million in stolen crypto, I would target to keep around 10% of that, and with the other 90%, just send them to random crypto wallets around the world. I would do that for years and years and lead the cops on expensive wild goose chases and get hundreds of thousands of people entangled, and then transfer some to me every now and then through different identities. I don't see how this can be stopped, unless somehow they traced the execution of crypto transactions to a particular IP address and time.

twoodfin 3y ago
It’s not the crypto transactions that would get you, I think. It’s turning that crypto into hard currency: This is money laundering, and while lots of criminals successfully launder money, quite a bit of effort is expended at all levels to make handing someone large volumes of cash—for any purported reason—difficult to do unscrutinized.
- ghaff 3y ago
  And even if someone is able to get their hands on a few briefcases full of $100 bills (or probably better a steamer trunk full of smaller bills), it's probably going to be hard to actually use that much money--at least for legal transactions.
- paulpauper 3y ago
  someone who is smart enough to pull this off probably is smart enough to not be caught
rchaud 3y ago
> I would target to keep around 10% of that, and with the other 90%, just send them to random crypto wallets around the world. Your idealism or whimsy would have evaporated long before you accumulated anything close to that amount. No one in crypto is in it for the lulz, least of all SBF who was a media poster boy for "effective altruism". Past the point of lifetime financial comfort, money is simply a way of keeping score in a game. And the players at the table tend to be some of the worst individuals in the world.
paulpauper 3y ago
there are no such thing as 'crypto transactions to IP addresses' unless he uses an exchange.
- WXLCKNO 3y ago
  What do you mean? When you broadcast a transaction you do it from an IP address. Validators/Miners/Nodes whatever can see which IP broadcast a transaction. There's definitely a way to link an IP address to a transaction if you're not using a VPN or TOR.
  - junofan 3y ago
    Nodes broadcast transactions, not users. Metadata is deliberately not included.

twoodfin 3y ago

It’s not the crypto transactions that would get you, I think. It’s turning that crypto into hard currency: This is money laundering, and while lots of criminals successfully launder money, quite a bit of effort is expended at all levels to make handing someone large volumes of cash—for any purported reason—difficult to do unscrutinized.

ghaff 3y ago
And even if someone is able to get their hands on a few briefcases full of $100 bills (or probably better a steamer trunk full of smaller bills), it's probably going to be hard to actually use that much money--at least for legal transactions.
paulpauper 3y ago
someone who is smart enough to pull this off probably is smart enough to not be caught

rchaud 3y ago

> I would target to keep around 10% of that, and with the other 90%, just send them to random crypto wallets around the world. Your idealism or whimsy would have evaporated long before you accumulated anything close to that amount. No one in crypto is in it for the lulz, least of all SBF who was a media poster boy for "effective altruism". Past the point of lifetime financial comfort, money is simply a way of keeping score in a game. And the players at the table tend to be some of the worst individuals in the world.

paulpauper 3y ago

there are no such thing as 'crypto transactions to IP addresses' unless he uses an exchange.

WXLCKNO 3y ago
What do you mean? When you broadcast a transaction you do it from an IP address. Validators/Miners/Nodes whatever can see which IP broadcast a transaction. There's definitely a way to link an IP address to a transaction if you're not using a VPN or TOR.
- junofan 3y ago
  Nodes broadcast transactions, not users. Metadata is deliberately not included.