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Many members of the community have reacted quite loudly and negatively to the suggestion that a central authority should be able to declare certain bitcoins tai
by patio11 13y ago
Many members of the community have reacted quite loudly and negatively to the suggestion that a central authority should be able to declare certain bitcoins tainted. This effectively introduces an external-to-the-blockchain way to essentially remove their bitcoins from their control, which they (currently) believe is impossible in bitcoin, and which they believe would devalue their bitcoins if it were known to be possible.
- tempestn 13y agoI wonder if this is a problem that could be solved with an evolution of the technology. Meaning bitcoin (or a future crypto-currency) policing itself in a distributed manner, without requiring a central authority. Perhaps some way to hold referendums as to whether specific coins should be considered stolen. And if passed, some predetermined resolution mechanism would come into play, whereby the stolen coins would no longer be valid anywhere, and new coins would become available - either returned to the theft victim, or added to the mining pool, or something.
- ronaldx 13y agoI gather that it would be straightforward for individual bitcoin users to refuse to handle known-stolen bitcoins. Perhaps this is illegal already - under local handling of stolen goods laws. People would likely be inclined to take up this policy were there a single case of legal enforcement. I believe this would lead to a stable situation where those known-stolen bitcoins were worth far less than regular bitcoins. The present loud reaction would become irrelevant. What's more, I believe it would benefit bitcoin to remove some of the danger of (irreversible) theft.