Maybe this is a stupid question, but how ? Was the Bahamas' SEC holding its own copies of FTX's keys? I thought the entire point of these schemes was that this kind of seizure-by-force wasn't possible (absent exploits or insiders).
>absent exploits or insiders Insiders can be press ganged with threats of violence, which the state has a monopoly on.
You think a state’s monopoly on violence is relevant when they’re beating you to steal cryptocurrency from you? Anyone off the street can do the same.
>absent exploits or insiders Insiders can be press ganged with threats of violence, which the state has a monopoly on.
I had assumed that they had some kind of obtuse M of N scheme with no sufficient number of parties in the same place at once, but that was perhaps too optimistic (?) of me.
According to some of the chapter 11 filings, the keys were stored in a shared email account with a shared password for key employees.
I had assumed that they had some kind of obtuse M of N scheme with no sufficient number of parties in the same place at once, but that was perhaps too optimistic (?) of me.
Armed government agents show up to your door asking you for half a billion dollars. You tell them "can't do it, I need this other key that's held by my partner in a different place". What do you think is going to happen next? "Understandable, have a good day" and they go home? Or they hold you in jail until you somehow find a way to comply?
No, they're suggesting that SBF is in their jurisdiction, which gives them substantial "do what we say, or else" power.
OK so not actually guns but "government" then. Not as dramatic though. OP is likely the same kind of person who calls taxes "theft" for rhetorical purposes.
How do you think governments force people to do things they otherwise wouldn’t do?
I had assumed that they had some kind of obtuse M of N scheme with no sufficient number of parties in the same place at once, but that was perhaps too optimistic (?) of me.
According to some of the chapter 11 filings, the keys were stored in a shared email account with a shared password for key employees. Yeah.
Guns. Guns are how. Guns are how governments achieve their objectives. There is no crypto scheme, no algorithm, no possible arrangement of private keys and Merkle trees that can escape the reality of men with guns.
XKCD 538 remains ever relevant.
Wow, that's from February 2nd, 2009. October 31, 2008 was when the bitcoin white paper was published.
I had assumed that they had some kind of obtuse M of N scheme with no sufficient number of parties in the same place at once, but that was perhaps too optimistic (?) of me.
Armed government agents show up to your door asking you for half a billion dollars. You tell them "can't do it, I need this other key that's held by my partner in a different place". What do you think is going to happen next? "Understandable, have a good day" and they go home? Or they hold you in jail until you somehow find a way to comply?
Absolutely the latter. My surprise comes more from FTX seemingly not even trying to do some kind of key protection scheme; it seems as though they made it easy for this seizure to happen. To my mind, this speaks large volumes about the quantity of misplaced confidence in these firms.
The Bahamas has a total population of a smallish city and surely a national budget to match. Grabbing 500M anonymously (while letting everyone run around for days thinking it was a hacker) doesn't make much sense either. Did they put their entire country's budget on the exchange or something?
When exchanges registered in the Bahamas are in danger of losing customers money, Bahamian government has authority and duty to seize assets to protect customers. Bahamian government is taking custody, it's not their money.
Apparently, FTX is registered not in the Bahamas but in Antigua and Barbuda. I learned that recently as well.