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Exmo Bitcoin exchange chief executive kidnapped in Kiev

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131–140 of 142 posts

Re: Exmo Bitcoin exchange chief executive kidnapped in Kiev

#131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can create and use as many addresses as you want - there's absolutely no reason to keep your savings on the same address as the tip jar.

Yes but everyone can see how much you received over the years. And, well, if there have been thousands of BTC passed through that tip jar, it's reasonable to assume that the organization still has control over a big amount of these funds.

Yes but everyone can see how much you received over the years.

Only if you use static addresses. If you're receiving thousands of BTCs, you can easily afford to write a widget that generates a new address for each donor (behind a captcha, to avoid DoS).

Re: Exmo Bitcoin exchange chief executive kidnapped in Kiev

#132
post #117
post #83

Unfortunately, one of the 'killer apps' for crypto is extortion. It's going to change the world and not for the better. The hard part of extortion has always been getting paid. It's always involved exposure ("meet me there with a bag of money") or been subject to limitations (wire transfer clawbacks, cash withdrawal limits, etc), until now. Right now anyone in the world can fill an insulin syringe with cyanide soluti…

Another case: btce. Now turned to Wex. They got the possibility to run with users funds but instead they decided to stick around. That being said, most people are peaceful. Crime-wise, they are slightly willing to do bad things (like stealing quietly from the market). Those ready to kill or cause great damage, are not normal people and are not most people. Go to Japan and see how people behave their. America is viole…

> That being said, most people are peaceful. Crime-wise, they are slightly willing to do bad things (like stealing quietly from the market). Those ready to kill or cause great damage, are not normal people and are not most people.

That's a very lofty assertion. Most people assign a very very very high value to "avoid getting caught". Over time we have developed a system to increase probability of getting caught for any crime. Should the system fall apart, the crime spikes

Re: Exmo Bitcoin exchange chief executive kidnapped in Kiev

#133
post #87
post #83

Unfortunately, one of the 'killer apps' for crypto is extortion. It's going to change the world and not for the better. The hard part of extortion has always been getting paid. It's always involved exposure ("meet me there with a bag of money") or been subject to limitations (wire transfer clawbacks, cash withdrawal limits, etc), until now. Right now anyone in the world can fill an insulin syringe with cyanide soluti…

For something as large scale as that coke scheme bitcoin could always implement clawbacks via consensus.

If there's a consensus that allows for a clawback then entire premise of bitcoin is out of the window.

Re: Exmo Bitcoin exchange chief executive kidnapped in Kiev

#134
post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Shamir's Secret Sharing allows this even without dealing with multisig wallets.

I like the idea but I wish there were a widely-trusted implementation with public security reviews, maybe built into wallet software.

It's not a terribly large amount of code, and it's easy to test, even with a "live" key (since testing that any n of m can be recombined doesn't force a spend or reveal anything externally).

Also, it's a fairly well-known system, so I don't see it being collectively "forgotten" on the timescale of a few decades (it's been around since the late 70's i believe).

I'd love to get it integrated into wallet software, as it's such a safe and reliable way of storing secrets that lets you be as "secure" or as "reliable" as you want with just a slider.

Re: Exmo Bitcoin exchange chief executive kidnapped in Kiev

#135
post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Tether" is effectively a fractional-reserve "currency" in use by bitfinex.

There isn't much evidence that Tether Limited is indeed keeping a reserve of USD for each Tether printed [0]. They are minting hundreds of millions of Tethers and there are a lot of skeptics out there who don't believe that they have billions of USD in a bank. [0] https://seekingalpha.com/article/4133884-bitcoin-additional-...

That’s what fractional reserve means.

Re: Exmo Bitcoin exchange chief executive kidnapped in Kiev

#136
post #117
post #83

Unfortunately, one of the 'killer apps' for crypto is extortion. It's going to change the world and not for the better. The hard part of extortion has always been getting paid. It's always involved exposure ("meet me there with a bag of money") or been subject to limitations (wire transfer clawbacks, cash withdrawal limits, etc), until now. Right now anyone in the world can fill an insulin syringe with cyanide soluti…

Another case: btce. Now turned to Wex. They got the possibility to run with users funds but instead they decided to stick around. That being said, most people are peaceful. Crime-wise, they are slightly willing to do bad things (like stealing quietly from the market). Those ready to kill or cause great damage, are not normal people and are not most people. Go to Japan and see how people behave their. America is viole…

Thank you for taking a reasonable perspective on this.

Most humans are not slathering animals just avoiding being caught.

Re: Exmo Bitcoin exchange chief executive kidnapped in Kiev

#137
post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is bullshit, exchanges with the most rudimentary technology will not keep their funds under a single private key held by one single person at all times. Multi-sig exists.

> Multi-sig exists. Multi-sig does not prevent anyone from kidnapping me and distributing a video "sign us all your btc funds or this dude is going to get tortured".

Well sure, but the executives of the exchange signing that transaction would actually be a violation of the law, because they are custodians of their customers' funds and not all customers may agree in saving their executive.

Re: Exmo Bitcoin exchange chief executive kidnapped in Kiev

#139
post #83

Unfortunately, one of the 'killer apps' for crypto is extortion. It's going to change the world and not for the better. The hard part of extortion has always been getting paid. It's always involved exposure ("meet me there with a bag of money") or been subject to limitations (wire transfer clawbacks, cash withdrawal limits, etc), until now. Right now anyone in the world can fill an insulin syringe with cyanide soluti…

Couldn't you taint the crytocurrency?

It wouldn't be exactly something that can be done overnight, but it wouldn't be impossible. Depending upon how strongly they implement the laws, it would kill currencies that don't offer protection from being tainted.

Re: Exmo Bitcoin exchange chief executive kidnapped in Kiev

#140
post #83

Unfortunately, one of the 'killer apps' for crypto is extortion. It's going to change the world and not for the better. The hard part of extortion has always been getting paid. It's always involved exposure ("meet me there with a bag of money") or been subject to limitations (wire transfer clawbacks, cash withdrawal limits, etc), until now. Right now anyone in the world can fill an insulin syringe with cyanide soluti…

Upvoted for your last two sentences. If this is the destiny of humanity, so be it. Either we will get past it, or we won't. That was always the case, bitcoin or not. The fundamental issue is human nature. Technology merely distills and clarifies.

This is not really such an obvious consequence as you make it out to be. Technology can channel different aspects of human nature more or less intensively. Bitcoin for example is a design which puts forward more of the „bad“ sides... through its design it channels greed at the expense of sustainability. Interestingly it only works if people participate and accept it, so we actually have a strong lever that we can work against it. Just don’t participate.

So to sum up... I think it’s mor appropriate to say the fundamental issue is how we design around human nature to create a world worth living...

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