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U.S. Feds Seized Nearly $1B in Bitcoin from Wallet Linked to Silk Road

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Re: U.S. Feds Seized Nearly $1B in Bitcoin from Wallet Linked to Silk Road

#361

Post by vmception »

jariel wrote: post #319
vmception wrote: post #275

Earlier quoted context omitted.

which you only have to worry about when you have to tap into the rainy day fund, or when the collateral gets liquidated Because you can borrow against it instead of selling and without touching a financial institution, and this gives you liquidity without a tax event Welcome to the 2020s

"which you only have to worry about when you have to tap into the rainy day fund, or when the collateral gets liquidated" If your 'rainy day fund' is a stack of bills in a box, sure, but other than that there isn't much you can do with significant amounts of money that isn't going to involve some kind of transparency. Literally trading those dollars for anything else involves gain/loss. You're not going to be able to…

ok. the only thing directly applicable in your analogy is that if you choose to report something for deduction, then you will need to account for the rest of the capital.

there is no obligation to report possible deductions.

you wouldn't here and you would remain compliant if you paid the interest with money you already paid taxes on.

the rest of your analogy just doesn't work.

Re: U.S. Feds Seized Nearly $1B in Bitcoin from Wallet Linked to Silk Road

#362

Post by BMSmnqXAE4yfe1 »

jonas21 wrote: post #60
gruez wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The point of bitcoin is that you can drive across the country "carrying" $1B worth of assets, and if you get pulled over by the cops it won't be found. Try doing that with gold bars or stacks of cash.

I am glad we finally have a solution to this pressing issue.

You won't believe how pressing it is for Chinese merchants in Russia. Crypto is their only way to repatriate funds back into China, and they are moving billions that way. There is a huge ecosystem around this in Moscow currently.

Re: U.S. Feds Seized Nearly $1B in Bitcoin from Wallet Linked to Silk Road

#363

Post by herbst »

power78 wrote: post #359
themodelplumber wrote: post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

John McAfee has been on a bit of an unfortunate downswing, so it's great to see a big name bringing in institutional support during a crisis like this. ;-)

Unfortunate? That guy has done some bad things.

To be fair, when he still owned the mcaffe it wasnt that bad

Re: U.S. Feds Seized Nearly $1B in Bitcoin from Wallet Linked to Silk Road

#364

Post by alasdair_ »

CydeWeys wrote: post #241
LeifCarrotson wrote: post #194

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Covert bribery is definitely frowned upon. Overt bribery - hiring lobbyists, event sponsorships, regulatory capture, etc - is very popular, I'd even say it's more so than in other countries.

Do you really think that someone with $1B of Bitcoin could buy their way out of the kinds of serious felony criminal charges mentioned in the linked article through campaign contributions and similar? I doubt it.

I think that yes, it would be possible, especially if the person with the money was already in contact with organized crime at the level where they have a steady enough cocaine supply to sell it by the kilo (as was happening on Silk Road).

Going through a few intermediaries, I don't see a reason why a presidential pardon in exchange for $100MM in crypto couldn't be arranged either, especially in the dying hours of a presidency.

Obviously this is all silly spy novel stuff, but a reasonably intelligent person with mid-level or better criminal connections and literally a billion dollars to work with, coupled with a hell of a lot of motivation, could probably figure out something.

All that being said, outside of real political backing (i.e. continual payments every month), I'd doubt the person would remain free for very long after the deal was done.

Re: U.S. Feds Seized Nearly $1B in Bitcoin from Wallet Linked to Silk Road

#365

Post by vmception »

at-fates-hands wrote: post #322
ramenmeal wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Disclaimer, I know very little about bitcoin. If you owe the IRS tax money, they can take the money from your bank account without asking. They just do it. Can the same be done with bitcoin? As far as I know, they aren't able to. If that's the case, there's a difference.

Her's some actual legal information about the seizing of BTC by the FBI: In June 2014, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (‘UNODC’) published a ‘Basic Manual on the Detection and Investigation of the Laundering of Crime Proceeds Using Virtual Currencies’ (hereinafter ‘Manual’) providing a guide as to how the Bitcoin can be located and seized. The advantage of locating and seizing the Bitcoin wallet is that…

> The above article is from Australia, but the manual is used internationally so I'm assuming it would be the same for the US:

As with all legal topics, not a good assumption.

> Essentially once they have court approval and know where the wallet is - hard drive, USB drive, digital wallet. They will confiscate the wallet (similar to physical property seizures from a drug dealer) then just transfer the BTC to an account or wallet they control.

You know this requires them having access to the private key. There is no "just transfer the BTC", there isn't even a guarantee that they are the only custodians of it as the wallet itself can be replicated and the "physical location" being in many places at once. There is no way of disproving that, only assuming based on most people's poor operational security.

Re: U.S. Feds Seized Nearly $1B in Bitcoin from Wallet Linked to Silk Road

#366

Post by jeff456789876 »

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Re: U.S. Feds Seized Nearly $1B in Bitcoin from Wallet Linked to Silk Road

#367

Post by 55555 »

jollofricepeas wrote: post #337
55555 wrote: post #330

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Let's not make Trump seem responsible for our incredibly overtly corrupt country. Bill Clinton was a democrat, was president before Trump, and is notorious for his seemingly-corrupt pardons. I'm no history buff so I can't go back further than my own lifespan for further examples but I bet America has been this way for a long, long time. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Clinton_pardon_controvers... https://en.wikipe…

Ehh, don’t believe every political talking point you hear. You should read Swiss investigative journalist, Daniel Amman’s King of Oil. The furor over these pardons including the Marc Rich pardon was 100% political. Clinton pardoned relatively the same amount of people as previous presidents but with a heavy focus on “leftists.” Also, Marc Rich had left the US before he started working across trade embargoes and singl…

I started reading his book but got distracted. Thank you. I'll pick it back up.

Re: U.S. Feds Seized Nearly $1B in Bitcoin from Wallet Linked to Silk Road

#368

Post by fallat »

Ancapistani wrote: post #347
fallat wrote: post #124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Multisig or SSS.

SSS? In my circles, That’s instructions forgetting away with murder: “Shoot. Shovel. Shut up.” Does it mean something else in this context?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shamir%27s_Secret_Sharing

Re: U.S. Feds Seized Nearly $1B in Bitcoin from Wallet Linked to Silk Road

#369

Post by jjones2 »

sfifs wrote: post #334
jjones2 wrote: post #208

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can obtain you Bitcoin with a portable power generator and satellite dish if you are on the move or cannot access conventional utilities.

Sure but to get satellite internet, you need to provide some id to the satellite internet company and they can probably track you back.

You don't need any type of accounts is the beauty, I don't want to take time digging up the details but I'm sure if you search it you will find the service.
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