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The largest unknown Bitcoin wallet moved nearly $1B for $0.48 in fees

decrypt.co

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Re: The largest unknown Bitcoin wallet moved nearly $1B for $0.48 in fees

#91

Post by joosters »

whb07 wrote: post #51
ipython wrote: post #39

Unpopular opinion: why do we care so much about making it cheaper for rich people to move money around? Do we think somehow that will “trickle down” to us mere mortals and put western union and their ilk out of business?

because the poor people can't move $10 around without paying $3 for it. Have you ever tried moving small amounts of money in poor countries ?

Have you not heard of M-Pesa? Very popular mobile phone-based money transfer service, low fees (far less than $3 or the 30% you claim), you can even pay companies directly with it

Re: The largest unknown Bitcoin wallet moved nearly $1B for $0.48 in fees

#92

Post by gruez »

RcouF1uZ4gsC wrote: post #41

https://decrypt.co/31956/an-ethereum-user-lost-5-2-million-i... And if you fat-fingered the transaction, you could have transferred $0.48 for $1B in fees with no way to reverse that.

1. that's ethereum, not bitcoin. bitcoin core specifically has checks to prevent transactions with unusually high transactions fees from being broadcast https://bitcoin-rpc.github.io/en/doc/0.16.0/rpc/rawtransacti... (see the allowhighfees parameter)

2. In all likelihood this is someone manually crafting a transaction. It's not going to happen to your typical user (eg. your granny). A better analogy to this situation would be someone's trading bot going awry and losing thousands/millions on the market.

Re: The largest unknown Bitcoin wallet moved nearly $1B for $0.48 in fees

#93

Post by toss1 »

tialaramex wrote: post #40
gutino wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What about the Government taxes, 1 Billon no matter that will pay a jucy tax slice.

Where are you that has a transaction tax on account transfers? Not the US certainly, and not anywhere in the EU.

depends on the nature of the transaction & the parties - 'transfer/transaction taxes aren't the only issue

Sales or gift taxes could apply. So could import /export taxes depending on the endpoints. Could it appear as income/gains to one party or another? etc...

of course it can often be structured to avoid such taxes, but it requires forethought.

I wouldn't even think of making a $multi-million move without first consulting a very high end attorney in the appropriate field.

Re: The largest unknown Bitcoin wallet moved nearly $1B for $0.48 in fees

#94

Post by Peepootoler »

avipars wrote: post #43
Ansil849 wrote: post #12

For all of the talk about how Bitcoin is not truly anonymous, this wallet demonstrates otherwise, with the apparent 'anonymity proviso' being that you don't do too much with it, and just let the coins sit.

That's the whole idea behind the blockchain. Everything is recorded in ledgers

There is privacy-focused crypto like Monero though.

Re: The largest unknown Bitcoin wallet moved nearly $1B for $0.48 in fees

#95

Post by Cthulhu_ »

pjc50 wrote: post #82
ShorsHammer wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's a 1 in 4 billion chance of fat fingering it. https://learnmeabitcoin.com/guide/checksum The thing to be really aware about is insidious malware that detects valid bitcoin addresses being copied and modifies them in place, sometimes even to the point of including the same first/last alphanumerics to a certain degree. You'd hopefully be using a bootable linux distro and multisig for transferring such amounts.

Doesn't stop you from making a UI error and entering the wrong value in the wrong box.

Said UI could protect the user from it though, by not accepting a 'fee' value more than 10% over the current average (for example).

Re: The largest unknown Bitcoin wallet moved nearly $1B for $0.48 in fees

#96

Post by alexpotato »

cletus wrote: post #52
grubles wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well the point is with Bitcoin you don't have to trust RBC to not freeze and/or abscond with your $1B.

Nor can you reverse a transaction when someone steals your Bitcoins. The traditional financial system is far more suitable to people’s needs than Bitcoin is.

Libertarians would argue that this is where insurance comes in.

Insurance in this example has two functions:

1. Protecting you from losses

2. Applying standards to Bitcoin exchanges etc to help prevent losses. A good example of this is fire insurance. An insurance company will require a potential customer to have fire alarms, use specific materials etc before they decide to cover that company's building.

Re: The largest unknown Bitcoin wallet moved nearly $1B for $0.48 in fees

#97

Post by asdfasgasdgasdg »

Cthulhu_ wrote: post #78
jpkoning wrote: post #16

If we both join the bitcoin network, we can exchange $1B for $0.48. If we both join set up accounts at a regular bank like RBC, we can exchange $1B for free. The point I'm making is that fees are not bitcoin's strong point. Any financial network can undercut it. What is unique about bitcoin is that not everyone can get an account at RBC, but anyone can join the more expensive bitcoin network.

Are you trying to argue that a financial transaction - a service provided by a bank where THEY take all the risk and responsibility of said transfer - should be free of charge? I mean if I transferred a billion and my bank made a mistake, I would not lose any money. Make a typo in your bitcoin transaction, and you're screwed.

> Are you trying to argue that a financial transaction - a service provided by a bank where THEY take all the risk and responsibility of said transfer - should be free of charge?

I think that they are making the point that they actually are free of charge. Fees for moving money at banks are negligible. They might not actually be entirely free, but wire transfer fees are ~$20, and I've moved a million dollars this way before. I don't know if there's much of a difference between a million and a billion in this context.

Re: The largest unknown Bitcoin wallet moved nearly $1B for $0.48 in fees

#98

Post by retrac »

sp332 wrote: post #76
hendzen wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is the average person in our society better off in a world where anyone can move $1B anonymously? Why do you think regulators might want to take an interest in such transfers?

I don't know, is it that different from being able to send an encrypted message, or lock something securely in a safe?

Is there a difference between expressing moral support for a terrorist organization and sending them $1 million? I was never very compelled with the "money = speech" argument when taken particularly literally.

Re: The largest unknown Bitcoin wallet moved nearly $1B for $0.48 in fees

#99

Post by erfgh »

grubles wrote: post #25
jpkoning wrote: post #16

If we both join the bitcoin network, we can exchange $1B for $0.48. If we both join set up accounts at a regular bank like RBC, we can exchange $1B for free. The point I'm making is that fees are not bitcoin's strong point. Any financial network can undercut it. What is unique about bitcoin is that not everyone can get an account at RBC, but anyone can join the more expensive bitcoin network.

Well the point is with Bitcoin you don't have to trust RBC to not freeze and/or abscond with your $1B.

You do have to trust yourself to have 100% flawless security because one slip and you lose that $1B to a Chinese hacker with no hope of ever getting it back.

Re: The largest unknown Bitcoin wallet moved nearly $1B for $0.48 in fees

#100

Post by knocte »

ipython wrote: post #39

Unpopular opinion: why do we care so much about making it cheaper for rich people to move money around? Do we think somehow that will “trickle down” to us mere mortals and put western union and their ilk out of business?

Those are two questions, not an opinion.
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