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Trustless mixing will make this nearly impossible for the Feds.
by walden42 13y ago
Trustless mixing will make this nearly impossible for the Feds.
- wmf 13y agoUnless they decide that all the money coming out of the mix is tainted.
- erichocean 13y agoLaw enforcement in general only works effectively when a small portion of the population is a target for enforcement. If mixing exchanges represented a significant fraction of bitcoin activity, a "tainting" law would be practically unenforceable.
- shittyanalogy 13y agoIt's called selective enforcement. See the war on drugs.
- Fomite 13y agoThat assumes that "a significant fraction of bitcoin activity" is not also "a small portion of the population"
- tlrobinson 13y agoOr law-abiding users who simply want financial privacy will be afraid to use mixing for fear of (literally) being mixed up in illegal activity, just as most people won't run Tor exit nodes.
- PeterisP 13y agoBitcoin mixing is trivial to defeat. (a) Forbid offering and using it; (b) if 'tainted' money enters a pool, then the operator and/or the participants become jointly liable for returning back all of the money; (c) seize money from whomever is easiest to reach. (d) observe casual people never ever participating in such mixing after the first publicized case. All of the above is within powers of legislators+lawenforcement, and there are precedents of them doing different-but-similar things for other ways of money laundering.
- walden42 13y agoJust letting you know, trustless mixing means no central operator. Technically they could do this down the line. But it'll be very difficult to enforce as bitcoin is a global currency. Your laws may not apply to my country, and everyone else will be using them.