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One of the neat things about bitcoin that hasn't been talked a lot about is that bitcoin makes it possible (with a little planning) to create seizure and "civil
by jlgreco 13y ago
One of the neat things about bitcoin that hasn't been talked a lot about is that bitcoin makes it possible (with a little planning) to create seizure and "civil forfeiture" resistant money. This can be done if you want to save your money for later (perhaps for your defense, or for after your eventual release), or alternatively merely because you believe that civil forfeiture is unethical and dangerous to society as it accelerates the militarization of the police.
Imagine a system where the private material of a wallet is shared among one or more trusted individuals (using secret sharing) who are under instructions to cooperate with each other in destroying or moving the money if you are ever arrested or fail to check in after a certain period of time. If your aim is to merely destroy the money, you could also get away with having a secret VPS running somewhere that does the deed (it would not matter if it were later found).
If you go with the "destroy" route, then you would not even be destroying the evidence from an ethics standpoint (thanks to the nature of the blockchain). However the authorities, upon being denied their "prize", would undoubtedly throw a childish hissyfit and assert that you destroyed the evidence anyway.
- betterunix 13y ago"One of the neat things about bitcoin that hasn't been talked a lot about is that bitcoin makes it possible (with a little planning) to create seizure and "civil forfeiture" resistant money" Sounds like burying your cash on an island. I think you might be able to publish an exciting novel about this...
- anigbrowl 13y agoImagine a system where the private material of a wallet is shared among one or more trusted individuals (using secret sharing) who are under instructions to cooperate with each other in destroying or moving the money if you are ever arrested or fail to check in after a certain period of time. Don't you think that people involved in money-laundering already engage in such conspiracies? There's a reason they call it 'organized crime.'
- jlgreco 13y agoUh, yes? Of course? That seems obvious. I'm not sure what you are getting at here.
- anigbrowl 13y agoIt's naive to assume the government wouldn't be able to figure out such an obvious scheme. I disapprove of civil forfeiture laws as a matter of policy, but your proposed mechanism for outwitting them is absurd.
- jlgreco 13y agoThey would of course "figure it out". Actually, there wouldn't even be anything to figure out in the first place, it would be painfully obvious what had happened and they would strike out at you for doing it. Your bitcoins are transferred out of your wallet hours after you are arrested but before you give them the passphrase to your wallet... what is there to figure out? You seem to be entirely misunderstanding what I am proposing.
- anigbrowl 13y agoI don't think so. You seem to be entirely overestimating the effectiveness of your proposal.
- jlgreco 13y agoHow is destroying bitcoins not an effective way of ensuring that nobody has those bitcoins? How is that not effective? You seem to be under the impression that I think the authorities would not realize what happened, or would not strike out at you for doing it. I am suggesting neither of those things. They can be as angry as they want to be, but that will not un-transfer those bitcoins. Hell, they can beat you with a wrench for the rest of your natural life but that will not get the bitcoins back. You plainly do not understand what I am suggesting. "That would be organized crime and authorities are good at recognizing organized crime" is not a coherent response. Speak plainly, what specifically do you think the flaw is?