NyPo reports:
The Internet “pirate” accused of running the notorious illegal-drug-peddling Web site Silk Road claims that the feds are the real buccaneers — robbing him to the tune of $33.6 million worth of the encrypted, virtual currency bitcoin.
Ross Ulbricht — who was arrested in October for allegedly masterminding the mysterious “deep Web” site — recently filed legal papers in Manhattan federal court admitting he “has an interest as owner” of the more than 173,000 bitcoins the government seized through forfeiture from Silk Road.
Valued at $33.6 million, these bitcoins are assets the government claims were used to facilitate money laundering in support of a host of crimes, including six failed murder-for-hire plots and the sale of cocaine, heroin and other illicit drugs over the Internet.
Ulbricht — who allegedly used the workplace alias “Dread Pirate Roberts,” a reference to a character in the 1987 cult film “The Princess Bride” — said in a notarized Dec. 11 statement that he believes the virtual currency should be returned to him because bitcoins are “not subject to seizure” by federal law.
Ulbricht, 29, now admits the bitcoin fortune is his — even though he’s previously denied any wrongdoing regarding Silk Road and claimed through his lawyer that the feds arrested the wrong guy.Bitcoin is not only not anonymous but it appears that, at least in the case of Ulbricht, the government has somehow seized the bitcoins and they are no longer under the control of Ulbricht.
If Bitcoin computer nerds were cool, they would find a way to neutralize the currency once it is seized by the Federales.
ReplyDelete.
Unless of course the Bitcoin computer nerds ARE the Federales.
The last thing you want is a group of humans deciding what coins can and cant be spent. That would very quickly destroy the usefulness of the money. All the Feds would have to do is wash the coins in a mixer or exchange anyway.
ReplyDeleteSo much for Bitcoins being protected from the claws of the state. Ulbricht is now begging the government to give him his bitcoins back. Good luck with that.
ReplyDeleteWho ever claimed that Bitcoins are "protected from the claws of the State?" Ulbricht is trying to get the coins the government stole (the State whose money you cheer-lead for as being superior to Bitcoin Wenzel) from him. Bitcoins are not magic fairy dust; they can be stolen and confiscated by the State, if they steal the computer the keys are on.
Did you know there was another tranche of Bitcoin that the State cannot get its hand on because they do not have the password to them? Of course, this is not something Wenzel will tell you about as a useful feature of Bitcoin, because he does not understand how it works. He cannot possibly understand the concept of a Brain Wallet, where the Bitcoin wallet, for all intents and purposes, is stored in your brain.
Keeping your Bitcoin in a Brain Wallet means that the State cannot compel you to release them. They are stored safely in your head and the Blockchain.
Think I am making it up? Use Google to verify that what I am writing here is true.
Bitcoin is not only not anonymous but it appears that, at least in the case of Ulbricht, the government has somehow seized the bitcoins and they are no longer under the control of Ulbricht.
We already know Bitcoin is not perfectly anonymous, and no one with any credibility claims that it is. You are beating a dead horse on that front Wenzel. In the next line contradicts what you claim about Bitcoin not being anonymous; how is it that ordinary Bitcoin users cannot have anonymous Bitcoin, but the Feds can put Bitcoin through a mixer and suddenly have anonymous Bitcoin? Surely anonymizer services can be built into the transaction process to make all Bitcoin purchases anonymous if the Feds can use it to hide stolen loot?
In any case, all of this is moot. You claim, Wenzel, that Bitcoin has no value in the first place, so why would anyone make the effort to "wash" them or steal them? Why bother in the first place if its all a "Giant Scam".
You have painted yourself in to a corner in a white room with bars on the windows. LOL!
But...but...shitcoins are the most awesome of awesomeness. How could this happen? They're "our way" to not use the government's fiat currency and use "our" own fiat currency. There have been so many claims on here by shitcoin "experts" that shitcoins are untouchable. I'm so scared I'm going to lose my fortune in shitcoins! oh, wait...I didn't waste my time purchasing any. I bought gold and silver.
ReplyDeleteWenzel never said shitcoins weren't worth anything. He said they were a pump and dump. people who bought in at the beggining will make money and the poor fools who bought in when shitcoins were trading at $1200 will lose their shirts, along with the fools who won't know when to dump their shitcoins.
Wenzel also has posted many articles and stated if the feds thought shitcoins were any kind of threat they would shut it down faster than you can say "Shitcoins are shit. Shit, I should have listened." He didn't exactly say that last quote but it fits. Pump and dump. Buy GOLD.