5 ms·

Not at all, you can freely walk into most exchange offices. Theoretically an armed robbery of exchanges and payment processors would be the perfect crime. Commi

Not at all, you can freely walk into most exchange offices. Theoretically an armed robbery of exchanges and payment processors would be the perfect crime. Commit private address to memory or tattoo it on yourself in code, after the robbery forcing them to transfer to your public address and waiting out confirmations turn yourself in to the police and do the 5 yrs. Walk out with millions worth of bitcoins on your arm. (Penalty here is 5yrs, unsure anywhere else). Blockchain.info would prob nickname that address "Hans Grueber"

peteretep 12y ago
They'd keep you in indefinitely for contempt of court for not handing over what you'd stolen.
- dobbsbob 12y ago
  Claim the exchange operator hired you to rob their own business and they have the private key :P
- jfoutz 12y ago
  IANAL, but in the US, the 5th amendment still protects combination locks, and as far as I can tell, passwords. Prosecutors can be as intimidating as they wish, the government is free to use their magical NSA powers to recover the bitcoin. They can't compel someone to incriminate themselves. giving the wallet address to the prosecutor is effectively admitting to a crime, perhaps just conspiracy, but nonetheless that's self incrimination. Go for memorization over tattooing.
  - aidenn0 12y ago
    They can compel you to enter the passphrase to decrypt your computer so long as there is sufficient evidence that you are capable of doing so. What they can't do is say "only the person who committed this crime knows the password" and then force you to enter the password (since doing so would be self incrimination). It's when it's already known that you could enter the password that you can be compelled to.
  - michaelt 12y ago
    I'm not familiar with the American legal system. Ignoring bitcoin entirely, if you rob a bank and hide the money do you get to keep the money after your release from jail?
- peteretep 12y ago
  "In Chadwick v. Janecka (3d Cir. 2002), a U.S. court of appeals held that H. Beatty Chadwick could be held indefinitely under federal law, for his failure to produce US$ 2.5 million as state court ordered in a civil trial. Chadwick had been imprisoned for nine years at that time and continued to be held in prison until 2009, when a state court set him free after 14 years, making his imprisonment the longest on a contempt charge to date." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contempt_of_court#United_States http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contempt_of_court#United_States
- markvdb 12y ago
  Plausible deniability. You are only the low ranking front. You don't know the passphrase needed to hand over.

peteretep 12y ago

They'd keep you in indefinitely for contempt of court for not handing over what you'd stolen.

dobbsbob 12y ago
Claim the exchange operator hired you to rob their own business and they have the private key :P
jfoutz 12y ago
IANAL, but in the US, the 5th amendment still protects combination locks, and as far as I can tell, passwords. Prosecutors can be as intimidating as they wish, the government is free to use their magical NSA powers to recover the bitcoin. They can't compel someone to incriminate themselves. giving the wallet address to the prosecutor is effectively admitting to a crime, perhaps just conspiracy, but nonetheless that's self incrimination. Go for memorization over tattooing.
- aidenn0 12y ago
  They can compel you to enter the passphrase to decrypt your computer so long as there is sufficient evidence that you are capable of doing so. What they can't do is say "only the person who committed this crime knows the password" and then force you to enter the password (since doing so would be self incrimination). It's when it's already known that you could enter the password that you can be compelled to.
- michaelt 12y ago
  I'm not familiar with the American legal system. Ignoring bitcoin entirely, if you rob a bank and hide the money do you get to keep the money after your release from jail?
peteretep 12y ago
"In Chadwick v. Janecka (3d Cir. 2002), a U.S. court of appeals held that H. Beatty Chadwick could be held indefinitely under federal law, for his failure to produce US$ 2.5 million as state court ordered in a civil trial. Chadwick had been imprisoned for nine years at that time and continued to be held in prison until 2009, when a state court set him free after 14 years, making his imprisonment the longest on a contempt charge to date." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contempt_of_court#United_States http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contempt_of_court#United_States
markvdb 12y ago
Plausible deniability. You are only the low ranking front. You don't know the passphrase needed to hand over.