Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Bitcoin is fiat money, too

economist.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

161–170 of 355 posts

Re: Bitcoin is fiat money, too

#161

Post by bobajeff »

noddy1 wrote: post #145

Had a chat with a high ranking public tax official last week who said that the age of secret offshore bank accounts is over - mass leaks resulting from bounties mean that any rogue employee with a USB of account information can get a 7 figure payout from major goverments. So where to now for high net worth people/families? I would absolutely be piling my wealth into anonymous cryptocurrencies - zcash, monero, and wel…

I remember reading somewhere that Bitcoin isn't really anonymous. I think it was fundamental to how it works to have all transactions public and on the network.

Also, it seems like a bad idea to stash much of your wealth in a system is so vulnerable to theft. All it takes is for someone to have a momentary lapse in security or put a decimal in the wrong place or some other human error and then all that wealth is gone forever.

Re: Bitcoin is fiat money, too

#162

Post by monkmartinez »

noddy1 wrote: post #145

Had a chat with a high ranking public tax official last week who said that the age of secret offshore bank accounts is over - mass leaks resulting from bounties mean that any rogue employee with a USB of account information can get a 7 figure payout from major goverments. So where to now for high net worth people/families? I would absolutely be piling my wealth into anonymous cryptocurrencies - zcash, monero, and wel…

Pushback being a massive hack, hardfork, or massive devaluation? It is much easier to hide assets in plain sight imo.

Re: Bitcoin is fiat money, too

#163

Post by noddy1 »

KGIII wrote: post #152
noddy1 wrote: post #145

Had a chat with a high ranking public tax official last week who said that the age of secret offshore bank accounts is over - mass leaks resulting from bounties mean that any rogue employee with a USB of account information can get a 7 figure payout from major goverments. So where to now for high net worth people/families? I would absolutely be piling my wealth into anonymous cryptocurrencies - zcash, monero, and wel…

They can renounce their citizenship to the United States and then use any one of a number of different countries to do their banking. Citizens of other countries aren't subjected to the same laws and banks aren't pressured to report on them due to US influence. An example would be Lebanon. Everyone except US citizens gets pretty good banking privacy protections. Due to US pressure, Lebanon carved out an exception to…

Can you spend most of your time in USA if you are not a citizen? Who wants to live in lebanon?

Re: Bitcoin is fiat money, too

#164

Post by noddy1 »

bobajeff wrote: post #161
noddy1 wrote: post #145

Had a chat with a high ranking public tax official last week who said that the age of secret offshore bank accounts is over - mass leaks resulting from bounties mean that any rogue employee with a USB of account information can get a 7 figure payout from major goverments. So where to now for high net worth people/families? I would absolutely be piling my wealth into anonymous cryptocurrencies - zcash, monero, and wel…

I remember reading somewhere that Bitcoin isn't really anonymous. I think it was fundamental to how it works to have all transactions public and on the network. Also, it seems like a bad idea to stash much of your wealth in a system is so vulnerable to theft. All it takes is for someone to have a momentary lapse in security or put a decimal in the wrong place or some other human error and then all that wealth is gone…

Split your holdings into 20 portions. Invest in a range of high quality currencies and for each holding have several portions each secured with a different method. Eg. have some on a hardware wallet, some with multisig paper wallets, some buried somewhere, some with family. Generally you won't lose any. If you do lose any you are pretty well hedged.

Re: Bitcoin is fiat money, too

#165

Post by mrb »

alexasmyths wrote: post #120
SubiculumCode wrote: post #84

"Bankers talk about “governance”, ways to ensure private banks and central bankers make sound decisions—so they create just enough money make commerce easier, but not so much that the system collapses through inflation or panics." Many people don't know that central bankers literally, not figuratively, mean CREATE money out of nothing.

"mean CREATE money out of nothing." No, this is not true. Central banks do 'create' money, but they trade it on the market for real assets. The Fed creates dollars and exchanges them for an equal amount of US Tbills (bought at market rates). $1 created = $1 in Tbills on their balance sheet. They're not just creating money and keeping it, or giving it away. The practice of 'fractional lending' by retail/commercial ban…

«The Fed creates dollars»

Exactly what the parent said.

The fact it is used to buy TBills is irrelevant: the Fed creates money out of thin air. Period.

Re: Bitcoin is fiat money, too

#166

Post by monkmartinez »

mrb wrote: post #153
noddy1 wrote: post #145

Had a chat with a high ranking public tax official last week who said that the age of secret offshore bank accounts is over - mass leaks resulting from bounties mean that any rogue employee with a USB of account information can get a 7 figure payout from major goverments. So where to now for high net worth people/families? I would absolutely be piling my wealth into anonymous cryptocurrencies - zcash, monero, and wel…

I think you are spot on. Cryptocurrencies that fully obfuscate amounts sent, sources, and destinations, are perfectly ideal to hide assets. I think most people, even the tech crowd on HN, are unaware of their advanced capabilities.

If some of the most sophisticated operators were caught (vis-a-vis DPR (Silkroad)), why would "regular" families of wealth take a chance with crypto? I would humbly submit that regular tax evasion via LLC's, trusts and other holdings are much easier.

Re: Bitcoin is fiat money, too

#167

Post by tryingagainbro »

noddy1 wrote: post #145

Had a chat with a high ranking public tax official last week who said that the age of secret offshore bank accounts is over - mass leaks resulting from bounties mean that any rogue employee with a USB of account information can get a 7 figure payout from major goverments. So where to now for high net worth people/families? I would absolutely be piling my wealth into anonymous cryptocurrencies - zcash, monero, and wel…

>> Had a chat with a high ranking public tax official last week who said that the age of secret offshore bank accounts is over

....and what prompted the conversation : ) ?

The problem is that crypto can be good for a % of your illegal money, since it's relatively unproven. Any exchange that doesn't share the info will be taken down ala BTC-E (my bet is that IRS /FBI has their client list and transaction history already) so it's very very hard to spend /cash out.

If it gets our hand, of course then govts we'll declare war on cryptocurrencies

Re: Bitcoin is fiat money, too

#168

Post by noitsnot »

noddy1 wrote: post #164
bobajeff wrote: post #161

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I remember reading somewhere that Bitcoin isn't really anonymous. I think it was fundamental to how it works to have all transactions public and on the network. Also, it seems like a bad idea to stash much of your wealth in a system is so vulnerable to theft. All it takes is for someone to have a momentary lapse in security or put a decimal in the wrong place or some other human error and then all that wealth is gone…

Split your holdings into 20 portions. Invest in a range of high quality currencies and for each holding have several portions each secured with a different method. Eg. have some on a hardware wallet, some with multisig paper wallets, some buried somewhere, some with family. Generally you won't lose any. If you do lose any you are pretty well hedged.

Pretty well hedged? Is that supposed to be easy for the average person? This just one of the many reasons Bitcoin isn't taken seriously for widespread adoption.

Re: Bitcoin is fiat money, too

#170

Post by noitsnot »

noddy1 wrote: post #145

Had a chat with a high ranking public tax official last week who said that the age of secret offshore bank accounts is over - mass leaks resulting from bounties mean that any rogue employee with a USB of account information can get a 7 figure payout from major goverments. So where to now for high net worth people/families? I would absolutely be piling my wealth into anonymous cryptocurrencies - zcash, monero, and wel…

No it's not. I can't believe the comments coming out the woodwork every time a thread reaches the front page trying to hype and build a case for bitcoin. It's unbelievable. The government and IRS have no problem going after people trying to hide large sums of money and there are far better ways than putting your money in something that's a wildly fluctuating gamble at this point.
Post reply on HN