3 ms·

The person/organization in charge has to be caught, otherwise the world is being signaled that bitcoin is the perfect extortion currency.

by daenz 14y ago

lifeguard 14y ago
Reminds me of the cypherpunk's 'assassination politics' episode. (I do not condone assassination)
- andreyf 14y ago
  Episode? Did you mean "essay"? This one, in particular: http://cryptome.org/jdb/ap.htm http://cryptome.org/jdb/ap.htm Side note: the story of the author of that essay in an interesting one... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Bell http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Bell
  - lifeguard 14y ago
    No, yes, maybe: I meant legal episode of the author of that essay.
politician 14y ago
No, Bitcoin is not the perfect extortion currency. The transactions are public, so the value is traceable. Even if it is moved into one billion accounts which are split into another billion accounts, if any of the money ends up being spent to the accounts of known actors then it can be seized and the purchases can potentially be traced. I have no doubt that the Secret Service would monitor that account and the transitive closure of the transaction graph involved for the next 50 years if a payment was made to it. Hell, if there is any value currently assigned to that account it is effectively pinned. The owner of the account would have to work very hard to launder it.
- Bakkot 14y ago
  Wouldn't 'laundering' look exactly like 'sending the BTC to any of the dozens of services which store BTC for you in a centralized account, (SR, instawallet, etc) and then withdrawing that same amount? This produces bitcoins not visibly linked to the originals - it's exactly like depositing and then withdrawing money from a bank (a bank which doesn't make a record of people's identity).
  - politician 14y ago
    If the authorities observe transactions in the block chain sent to known actors (like a centralized BTC bank), the actor can be subpoenaed, raided, or shutdown.
    - Bakkot 14y ago
      You think? I'm pretty sure they already have sufficient motivation to shutdown Silk Road, which for laundering purposes is essentially a bank. By what mechanism do you propose they raid Silk Road's records, assuming such even exist?

The person/organization in charge has to be caught, otherwise the world is being signaled that bitcoin is the perfect extortion currency.

by daenz 14y ago

The person/organization in charge has to be caught, otherwise the world is being signaled that bitcoin is the perfect extortion currency.

lifeguard 14y ago

Reminds me of the cypherpunk's 'assassination politics' episode. (I do not condone assassination)

andreyf 14y ago
Episode? Did you mean "essay"? This one, in particular: http://cryptome.org/jdb/ap.htm http://cryptome.org/jdb/ap.htm Side note: the story of the author of that essay in an interesting one... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Bell http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Bell
- lifeguard 14y ago
  No, yes, maybe: I meant legal episode of the author of that essay.

politician 14y ago

No, Bitcoin is not the perfect extortion currency. The transactions are public, so the value is traceable. Even if it is moved into one billion accounts which are split into another billion accounts, if any of the money ends up being spent to the accounts of known actors then it can be seized and the purchases can potentially be traced. I have no doubt that the Secret Service would monitor that account and the transitive closure of the transaction graph involved for the next 50 years if a payment was made to it. Hell, if there is any value currently assigned to that account it is effectively pinned. The owner of the account would have to work very hard to launder it.

Bakkot 14y ago
Wouldn't 'laundering' look exactly like 'sending the BTC to any of the dozens of services which store BTC for you in a centralized account, (SR, instawallet, etc) and then withdrawing that same amount? This produces bitcoins not visibly linked to the originals - it's exactly like depositing and then withdrawing money from a bank (a bank which doesn't make a record of people's identity).
- politician 14y ago
  If the authorities observe transactions in the block chain sent to known actors (like a centralized BTC bank), the actor can be subpoenaed, raided, or shutdown.
  - Bakkot 14y ago
    You think? I'm pretty sure they already have sufficient motivation to shutdown Silk Road, which for laundering purposes is essentially a bank. By what mechanism do you propose they raid Silk Road's records, assuming such even exist?