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> Do you knock on your door and demand your private keys? Pretty much. If you're storing your bitcoin with something like Coinbase, they could also knock on Co
by andrewfong 13y ago
> Do you knock on your door and demand your private keys?
Pretty much. If you're storing your bitcoin with something like Coinbase, they could also knock on Coinbase's door.
> How can they do that if you've broken no laws?
Buying stolen artwork is not a crime if you don't know it's stolen. But the government can still seize the stolen artwork and return it to its original rightful owner. The only recourse you have is to go after the person who sold you the stolen artwork -- which may not be very feasible for you to do in the case of semi-anonymous bitcoin transactions.
> How do they even know you have them in the first place?
If you use a third-party service like Coinbase, they could just ask them. If you're using your own wallet, they'd have to rely on good-old fashioned deduction -- e.g. if the previous holder of the coins has an accounting log showing payment to you in bitcoins, that's probably enough to infer that you have or did have possession. It might be enough to shift the burden of proof so that you have to show that you don't have possession of the bitcoins.
- tlrobinson 13y ago> you have to show that you don't have possession of the bitcoins How exactly do you prove you don't possess something?
- andrewfong 13y agoMore accurately, you have to refute the evidence that's already been produced that you do possess something. For example, if someone says "I paid tlrobinson 2 bitcoins for mowing my lawn on Sunday," you could produce evidence that you were on a business trip on Sunday and therefore couldn't be the same tlrobinson referenced in the previous statement. Or argue that the person making that statement is a liar. Or point out that 2 bitcoins is an absurd amount to pay for mowing a lawn. Etc.
- dllthomas 13y agoThis isn't really any more of an issue with bitcoin than with Caymans accounts. It already leads to some messiness, but it doesn't stop them from throwing people in jail.
- AJ007 13y agoIf individual A steals artwork, sells it to individual B, and then uses the cash to buy a car from individual C, and individual C uses the cash to buy a house, is the only person who loses anything individual B? (Assuming individual C didn't break any money laundering regulations) If the stolen property is BTC rather than art, there would be no reason you couldn't follow a perpetual chain of transactions after it. Curiously, that could be viewed as a very big strength for BTC rather than a weakness. I think a lot of trouble is saved by calling BTC a programmable currency rather than an anonymous one.
- andrewfong 13y agoYes, Individual B is probably the only one hosed in that scenario.