Feds arrest couple, seize $3.6B in hacked Bitcoin funds
51–60 of 901 posts
Re: Feds arrest couple, seize $3.6B in hacked Bitcoin funds
#52I ask this every so often during threads regarding stolen cryptocurrency: Is there any solution yet to preventing stolen cryptocurrency funds from being spent? Isn't the only solution to have a central database and require laws to require every transaction to be pre-checked to see if it's stolen funds or not? And not only that, the centralized system will have to be constantly keeping track of wallet mixing to see wh…
With some things, such as the stablecoin USDC, the issuer can prevent specific addresses from transferring them
Re: Feds arrest couple, seize $3.6B in hacked Bitcoin funds
#53Earlier quoted context omitted.
Are you using Tornado Cash to launder money?
Yeah wtf, I'm not sure why he's randomly namedropping it.
I don't understand why you are being so aggressive. This is a post about news on laundering crypto. I am aware of a technology that seems to cater to that use case.
Re: Feds arrest couple, seize $3.6B in hacked Bitcoin funds
#54Earlier quoted context omitted.
Most cryptocurrencies are designed such that the concept of "returning" stolen funds is not really meaningful. The best analogue is cash. If you want to return the cash you need to physically find it and move it back.
> Most cryptocurrencies are designed such that the concept of "returning" stolen funds is not really meaningful. Which is why these things are not features, but bugs, in cryptocurrencies. The core design principles of cryptocurrencies are actually bugs, if you think about it.
It's not a bug, it's an explicit design decision with trade-offs.
Is it a bug that my fork can't cut like a knife? Different tools, different purposes.
Re: Feds arrest couple, seize $3.6B in hacked Bitcoin funds
#55I ask this every so often during threads regarding stolen cryptocurrency: Is there any solution yet to preventing stolen cryptocurrency funds from being spent? Isn't the only solution to have a central database and require laws to require every transaction to be pre-checked to see if it's stolen funds or not? And not only that, the centralized system will have to be constantly keeping track of wallet mixing to see wh…
What does "stolen cryptocurrency" actually mean? For example, if one person says it was stolen from them, and the holder says they legitimately acquired it, then how is any solution supposed to decide who is correct?
For fiat currency, there's usually a court system that can be used to determine ownership. Though often they explicitly exclude cash from that - if somebody legitimately acquires bank notes that were previously stolen, they can keep them and they are valid as legal tender.
For cryptocurrency, which jursidiction's justice system is going to determine whether something has a "stolen" marker or not? What if that's not recognised by a different jurisdiction, or someone else comes to the opposite conclusion?
Re: Feds arrest couple, seize $3.6B in hacked Bitcoin funds
#56I ask this every so often during threads regarding stolen cryptocurrency: Is there any solution yet to preventing stolen cryptocurrency funds from being spent? Isn't the only solution to have a central database and require laws to require every transaction to be pre-checked to see if it's stolen funds or not? And not only that, the centralized system will have to be constantly keeping track of wallet mixing to see wh…
There is no solution because you would end up punishing innocent people. E.g. if a thief buys a car with their proceeds then it's not fair to punish the car dealership by confiscating the originally-stolen coins. This was decided in Scotland in 1749, cf. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crawfurd_v_The_Royal_Bank
Re: Feds arrest couple, seize $3.6B in hacked Bitcoin funds
#57> “Today, federal law enforcement demonstrates once again that we can follow money through the blockchain, and that we will not allow cryptocurrency to be a safe haven for money laundering or a zone of lawlessness within our financial system,” said Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Polite Jr. of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division.
How is this not a total death blow for bitcoin? If the justice department can do it, anyone can. It's a public ledger. So you effectively must treat every transaction you ever make on the blockchain as totally public and tied directly to you.
Re: Feds arrest couple, seize $3.6B in hacked Bitcoin funds
#58Earlier quoted context omitted.
Most cryptocurrencies are designed such that the concept of "returning" stolen funds is not really meaningful. The best analogue is cash. If you want to return the cash you need to physically find it and move it back.
> Most cryptocurrencies are designed such that the concept of "returning" stolen funds is not really meaningful. Which is why these things are not features, but bugs, in cryptocurrencies. The core design principles of cryptocurrencies are actually bugs, if you think about it.
>The core design principles of cryptocurrencies are actually bugs, if you think about it.
It's a system designed around a different set of trade-offs. Calling a bug doesn't really make sense. For instance, using full disk encryption means that you lose all your data if you forget your keys. That's not an issue if you use icloud (which presumably has an account recovery process). Based on this, can you say that the "core design principles of full disk encryption are actually bugs"?
Re: Feds arrest couple, seize $3.6B in hacked Bitcoin funds
#5925 years max for stealing billions? God bless America. > Lichtenstein and Morgan are charged with conspiracy to commit money laundering, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison, and conspiracy to defraud the United States, which carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statut…
Are you suggesting that's a light punishment?
Given that folks have been given longer punishments for stealing less, yes. Granted, ianal and I acknowledge that things come into play like repeat offenses, etc.
Re: Feds arrest couple, seize $3.6B in hacked Bitcoin funds
#60I ask this every so often during threads regarding stolen cryptocurrency: Is there any solution yet to preventing stolen cryptocurrency funds from being spent? Isn't the only solution to have a central database and require laws to require every transaction to be pre-checked to see if it's stolen funds or not? And not only that, the centralized system will have to be constantly keeping track of wallet mixing to see wh…
With some things, such as the stablecoin USDC, the issuer can prevent specific addresses from transferring them
Which is only possible because it's centralized