a reply to:
rounda
Don't need to re-read it.
The FBI obtained the wallet key, then pocketed half of the money.
They admitted it. Well, not the pocketing the money part. But they've been doing that for years. They use bitcoin tumblers to hide the take.
I dunno what you're afraid of...
It's a completely unregulated market, created out of thin air, sold as the next big thing... just to take more of your money.
It's fake product, with no real world value. As in, you can't hold it in your hand and show it to someone and say, "I'll trade you for this." It's
only value is in speculation, which makes you hesitant to show it to someone and say, "I'll trade you for this." So then it becomes a "store of
value." Except the price is so volatile due to speculation, market manipulation, and -- I'll bet you everything I own -- a battle for 51% control
between various countries.
It doesn't solve the problem it set out to solve - i.e., transferring currency quickly and cheaply. I can Venmo someone instantly, for free. Takes
half an hour and 10% fees to transfer some bitcoin.
It's not anonymous. It's a paper trail that has been laminated, bronzed, and then had portraits painted of it. If any agency suspects you of illegal
activity, it is very possible to trace every transaction to every wallet. Even "anonymous" coins or protecting yourself with a VPN or TOR is bull#. If
you control the exit node, you control the data. And guess who controls most of the exit nodes? In the case of TOR, the Navy.
Oh, and it ain't new, either. We've been doing distributed computing since the 60s and 70s... the Internet used to be distributed until the
corporations bought in. And we've had distributed database storage for quite some time, too.
And, to top it all off, you are literally rewarded bitcoin for cracking the same encryption your wallet uses to store your password.
So, if you're surprised the FBI is shaving money off the top of a racket so blatantly based on bull#, I dunno what to tell you.
edit on
8-6-2021 by rounda because: (no reason given)