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The answer: Money.

• NegativeK 14y ago
  The more answer: Anonymous, digital money. The strengths of Bitcoin are its weaknesses. If you stash thousands under your mattress and your house burns down, you're out of luck (sort of. The Secret Service will replace bills if you can send them mostly burned versions.) If you completely delete your Bitcoin wallet, you're out of luck. If a robber breaks into your house and steals your cash stash or a hacker gets into your computer and steals your Bitcoin stash, you're out of luck.
  • gravitronic 14y ago
    It's not that easy though.. Bitcoin transactions are public, and the community is relatively tightknit. Eventually a thief has to use a payment processor to get real dollars from their heist, and from that point onwards look over their shoulder in public.
    • Nursie 14y ago
      Really? I thought the general consensus was just to let it all go, spend maybe a little effort tracking the coins as they get moved, but eventually lose them in the system, and then forget about the whole thing. Correct me if I'm wrong, but AFAICT nobody's watching the coins that got stolen from (say) bitcoinica so that they can either refuse to transact with them or go beat them up. In fact quite the opposite, the community as a whole seems entirely resistant to the idea of any sort of coin blacklist. AFAICT.
  • eru 14y ago
    Bitcoins are pseudonymous. Not anonymous.