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The Feds Are Ready To Sell $25 Million of Bitcoin Seized From The Silk Road

forbes.com

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Re: The Feds Are Ready To Sell $25 Million of Bitcoin Seized From The Silk Road

#61

Post by dclusin »

dclusin wrote: post #59
minimax wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You seem like someone who knows something about markets and you accept that there are very few, if any, natural buyers of bitcoins, and that the price of bitcoin is largely driven by speculators. I'm just trying to understand how you think this thing doesn't end up at $0 some day in the not too distant future.

The only three events that could send bitcoin to $0 are, in my opinion, if people stop using it and decide that it's worthless, the encryption scheme or peer to peer network are some how compromised, or all nations simultaneously outlaw it. However the last one would only serve to send it near zero. Consider if all governments outlaw it simultaneously. The market participants currently consist of free market type ent…

My math is wrong for total number of units of currency. It should be 2.1 * 10^15, which is 2.1 quadrillion. At the height of the financial crisis the notional value of all Credit Default Swaps was ~640 trillion.

Re: The Feds Are Ready To Sell $25 Million of Bitcoin Seized From The Silk Road

#62

Post by FireBeyond »

anigbrowl wrote: post #56
marvin wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This whole process just seems incredibly weird to me. What happens if the person is found not guilty of anything criminal after all the assets are sold off? This seems like police state tactics, pardon my French.

The beneficial owner(s) can show up in court and assert a legitimate claim on the goods if so inclined. Often they are not so inclined, as the cash in question was found in proximity to bricks of cocaine or suchlike and staking a claim to the cash tends to suggest an incriminating connection to the contraband. In this case there's abundant evidence of a criminal enterprise involving the sale of drugs, attempts to pur…

I believe that they have used raids on Silk Road buyer bitcoins going into this wallet as prima facie evidence that his wallet was credited for purchases verified to be sales on Silk Road.

He’s going to struggle to show why people around the world have paid $100M in bitcoins to him, some of which tie to Silk Road directly, and that the bitcoins are his and shouldn’t be seized or forfeited, but that the drug connection is false.

That fails the straight faced reasonable person test. It’s interesting how when it comes to some things like this, people conflate the “beyond a reasonable doubt” standard to be “beyond any doubt”.

Re: The Feds Are Ready To Sell $25 Million of Bitcoin Seized From The Silk Road

#63

Post by FireBeyond »

GigabyteCoin wrote: post #41
eudox wrote: post #37

But thanks to the public ledger that is the blockchain, we know which coins came from the Feds, and as such, which not to accept! Don't let them get away with it, folks.

First they came for the Feds coins, and I did not speak out--Because I was not a Fed.

So, if convicted, should he be able to keep the estimated $100MM of bit coin, the proceeds of a criminal enterprise (regardless of your thoughts on legalization, it remains that trafficking or facilitating/conspiracy to abett trafficking -is- a criminal offense)?

Or is your argument based solely on the lack of conviction - which is more worthy of discussion?

Re: The Feds Are Ready To Sell $25 Million of Bitcoin Seized From The Silk Road

#64

Post by anigbrowl »

marvin wrote: post #60
anigbrowl wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The beneficial owner(s) can show up in court and assert a legitimate claim on the goods if so inclined. Often they are not so inclined, as the cash in question was found in proximity to bricks of cocaine or suchlike and staking a claim to the cash tends to suggest an incriminating connection to the contraband. In this case there's abundant evidence of a criminal enterprise involving the sale of drugs, attempts to pur…

How much evidence is required to stake your claim to whatever goods were seized? "Innocent until proven guilty" is still a founding principle of the rule of law, although your arguments make sense if we don't consider that part of it. The US justice system has in many cases removed itself quite far from the ideal concepts of the rule of law, and I don't think this is a good thing.

A preponderance of it. There;'s no blanket answer to a question like that, it depends on the circumstances of the individual case.

Re: The Feds Are Ready To Sell $25 Million of Bitcoin Seized From The Silk Road

#66

Post by loceng »

bequanna wrote: post #38
loceng wrote: post #18

I somewhat would think they'd actually want to maintain ownership - but create the illusion they no longer do, so then they can make transactions. It'd be smart to track how those Bitcoin move and all accounts it touches.

What could they hope to learn from trading with others that they can't figure out now? It is already pretty transparent: http://blockchain.info/

To try to make purchases of illegal items, get shipping addresses, etc..
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