Someone just made a $147,239,214 Bitcoin transfer • Hacker News Board

Re: Someone just made a $147,239,214 Bitcoin transfer

#421

Post by makomk » Sat, Nov 23, 2013, 11:59 AM UTC

gnerd wrote: post #411

mpyne wrote: post #231

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Except for that pesky blockchain split that happened once...

There have been more than one block chain splits. I think you are talking about the hard fork that happened in May, which was planned for and not an unexpected accident. If you conduct a transaction and it is included in the shorter block chain, then by definition the network doesn't recognize the transaction and you keep your money and just send again.

I'm not sure what you're talking about, exactly none of the blockchain splits that have happened so far were expected to happen.

Re: Someone just made a $147,239,214 Bitcoin transfer

#422

Post by betterunix » Sat, Nov 23, 2013, 1:00 PM UTC

aagha wrote: post #400

bunderbunder wrote: post #384

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It might be harder for authorities to monitor bitcoin transactions. But, as the very fact that this HN article exists illustrates, the blockchain is a public record that's available for anyone to monitor, analyze, cross-reference with other sources of data, etc. Particularly for large movements like this, I'm inclined to say that it would be downright foolhardy to assume that BTC transactions are anonymous.

It might be foolhardy to assume that BTC transactions are anonymous, but that doesn't mean that it wouldn't be EXTREMELY EXTREMELY EXTREMELY difficult to figure out who was involved.

When it is such a large amount of money, it is not all that difficult. Just look for the guy who is $147M richer.

In other words, the only way you get to have the money is if you never spend it, except in minuscule amounts.

Re: Someone just made a $147,239,214 Bitcoin transfer

#423

Post by ansible » Sat, Nov 23, 2013, 1:02 PM UTC

codexon wrote: post #273

Sambdala wrote: post #246

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Gold's other uses wouldn't make gold worth much on their own. "Legitimate" uses of a commodity that trades more for its properties as money should be thought more of a really crappy put option, that is it sets a low price floor. For example, it's been estimated that gold's industrial uses would only allow it to be traded in the low double digits per ounce if people didn't desire it for other reasons. It's just in the…

Gold isn't just shiny, it is the most unreactive metal. It has a lot of other potential uses that other industries avoid because it is so expensive. If the price ever falls it will be kept up by those uses. http://geology.com/minerals/gold/uses-of-gold.shtml

Indeed, without gold, modern electronics would not be the happy place it is now. I am old enough to have had to use a pencil eraser to periodically clean tin plated contacts. Even silver oxidizes under normal conditions. I like my gold (plated contacts).

Re: Someone just made a $147,239,214 Bitcoin transfer

#424

Post by splitbrain » Sat, Nov 23, 2013, 1:03 PM UTC

nwh wrote: post #222

jluxenberg wrote: post #213

Are those editorialized links added by Blockchain.info admins, or are they part of the block chain itself? ("gotcha" and "shit load of money!")

They're added by users of blockchain.info. The actual blockchain does not store any metadata. http://blockchain.info/tags

Interesting! Any idea how the verified tags work? Who verifies what and how there?

Re: Someone just made a $147,239,214 Bitcoin transfer

#425

Post by davidgerard » Sat, Nov 23, 2013, 1:05 PM UTC

codexon wrote: post #170

fragsworth wrote: post #64

Consider this: They paid $0.00 for the transfer of $150 million dollars. A direct (i.e. not based on third party credit, regulations, etc.) transfer of wealth of this magnitude between two entities usually consists of a heavily guarded, insured, physical shipment of cash or gold. Depending how safely you want to make the transfer, and how far the entities are on the globe, it can cost hundreds of thousands to million…

While that is true, Bitcoin is far from a bulletproof preserve of wealth. Gold has other uses if it isn't used as a currency anymore. Bitcoin on the other hand can be made completely useless if some critical flaw is found, or the wealth is too concentrated in a few users and the majority decides to switch to a newer crypto-currency.

SHA-256 may go in several years, and this is an active concern in the Bitcoin community:

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=264552.0

Re: Someone just made a $147,239,214 Bitcoin transfer

#426

Post by nly » Sat, Nov 23, 2013, 1:06 PM UTC

nandemo wrote: post #389

mortehu wrote: post #243

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why do you seem to think that selling them all at once is the only way to sell them?

I don't think grandparent comment is arguing that. The post is about a transfer of 195k bitcoins (not dollars) from one wallet to another, all at once. However, as grandparent comment points out, the title is inaccurate: even if this transaction indeed involved an exchange of dollars, it's incorrect to assume that the dollar amount was 195k × (current BTC/USD rate). You could probably make such an assumption for, say…

Thanks, that's a very concise and precise way of conveying what I was trying to get across.

Re: Someone just made a $147,239,214 Bitcoin transfer

#427

Post by davidgerard » Sat, Nov 23, 2013, 1:07 PM UTC

Sambdala wrote: post #246

codexon wrote: post #170

Earlier quoted context omitted.

While that is true, Bitcoin is far from a bulletproof preserve of wealth. Gold has other uses if it isn't used as a currency anymore. Bitcoin on the other hand can be made completely useless if some critical flaw is found, or the wealth is too concentrated in a few users and the majority decides to switch to a newer crypto-currency.

Gold's other uses wouldn't make gold worth much on their own. "Legitimate" uses of a commodity that trades more for its properties as money should be thought more of a really crappy put option, that is it sets a low price floor. For example, it's been estimated that gold's industrial uses would only allow it to be traded in the low double digits per ounce if people didn't desire it for other reasons. It's just in the…

Gold's price is sensibly on the order of the price of silver (which gets classed as money but has a pile of uses).

Gold's magickal role is largely cultural bias. There's lots of metals that are rarer and pricier than gold, but you don't hear about scandium-bugs or rhodium-bugs.

Re: Someone just made a $147,239,214 Bitcoin transfer

#428

Post by rikacomet » Sat, Nov 23, 2013, 1:10 PM UTC

bigiain wrote: post #362

giovannibajo1 wrote: post #252

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sorry to digress a little, but I'm sensitive on age issues :) Pinkie Pie won his first $50k award by creating a 0-day sandbox escape on Chrome, by chaining 10 different vulnerabilities. He was 19 (now almost 21). Two years before, at 17, he released jailbreakme.com, all by himself, which was a 0-day able to jailbreak all iOS models shipped to date by just visiting a website. Age means nothing by itself, but the point…

Sure, there are 18 year olds with impressive technical chops. But do you know _anybody_ who would deposit money in a bank run exclusively by an 18 year old? Coding skills can be created and honed by highschoolers - business, legal, and commercial experience - very much less so.

the question is, if they really know if he/she is 18 year old or something.

Re: Someone just made a $147,239,214 Bitcoin transfer

#429

Post by rikacomet » Sat, Nov 23, 2013, 1:13 PM UTC

vinceguidry wrote: post #259

nico wrote: post #219

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm a little offended by the "like in every third world country" statement. Chile is not like that at all, and we are a third world country. In fact, here we are ranked right under (20th) the US (19th) in terms of transparency: http://www.transparency.org/country#CHL http://www.transparency.org/country#USA_DataResearch Argentina is ranked 102: http://www.transparency.org/country#ARG_DataResearch In all of Latin Ameri…

"Third-world" is a loaded term and doesn't really have a useful definition anymore.

not exactly.. there was a proper term.. fourth world as well.

for 15-20 years, third world in military terms at least, meant the signatory of NAM movement. fourth world was anyone left after that.

Re: Someone just made a $147,239,214 Bitcoin transfer

#430

Post by pantaril » Sat, Nov 23, 2013, 1:15 PM UTC

bigiain wrote: post #361

daemonize wrote: post #327

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not if the private key is stored in a secure hardware token.

How does the key get into the token, and how do you know there wasn't a copy made before that?

For example Trezor hardware wallet ( http://www.bitcointrezor.com/ ) generates its private key when it is first initialized. This way, the key never exists outside of the wallet.