-
Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.
Gawker dobs in alleged bitcoin creator, house raided in Australia
- Thread starter nephilimdj
- Start date
- Status
I'd say the it's more a potential 500 million dollar more than anything. There's virtually no way to cash that much out and maintain the value. Cause and effect would take place which would shake the whole market which would most likely make the coins lose their prescribed value. But hey, who really cares about semantics
Ingueferroque
Banned
Why would Wired reveal the name? What is their motive?
Why would they protect it? What would be their motive?
Angry Grimace
Two cannibals are eating a clown. One turns to the other and says "does something taste funny to you?"
Eye balls on their web site. Clicks. Ad revenue.
jellies_two
Member
If the keystone kops actually got anything that would lead them to a pile of bitcoin then I'd be very surprised. He should have been smart enough to put the keys in more than one place and not accessible to (say) a robbery, which is basically what the cops raiding your house and taking your stuff is.
So now he just has to deny deny deny. I lost them. The dog ate my homework. A hacker took them. I never had them. Whatever. Eventually he'll be free, and he'll do that Shawshank redemption thing, and go find that virtual tree by the wall.
So now he just has to deny deny deny. I lost them. The dog ate my homework. A hacker took them. I never had them. Whatever. Eventually he'll be free, and he'll do that Shawshank redemption thing, and go find that virtual tree by the wall.
way more
Member
Maybe they own bitcoin and wanted to see the the price jump. 500 million would be about 10% of the total in circulation.
SatansReverence
Hipster Princess
I still have no idea what a bitcoin is or how it is worth actual money.
way more
Member
That 500 million is gonna sit in an evidence locker till those porkchops can figure out how to make 1s and 0s spit dollar bill yeahs from the HD. It's been removed and turned over to the state. Time for some Bad Boys 1 level snatching.
Why do we place value in regular fiat currency?
Trust and confidence.
As a society we agree that something that is limited and traceable has value. We trust that the value we perceive in it will remain relatively stable and that gives us confidence to use it and trade with it.
I'm rusty on the details of what a bitcoin actually is, but my understanding is that it's nothing more than a number assigned to a unique address. The ability to decrease that number at that address (i.e. a withdrawal) is made possible by a unique private key (like a password or a PIN) that indicates you have permission to access those funds.
gamechanger87
Member
Their job is to investigate and figure stuff out. Both them and Gizmodo got leads and figured it out. The guy is allegedly sheltering 500M in a non-taxable asset which is not a good thing.
They contacted the proper authorities at the ATO and were told nothing. The biggest sotry is that he was planning on releasing 1M of the bitcoins in 2020 which would have upended the market.
jellies_two
Member
A bitcoin, or a fraction of one, is transacted in full public view, but with anonymous owners. Imagine if everyone could see every cash transaction happening, but no clue who owned the wallet on either side. This is opposite to banking, where everyone must be identified "to the system", but transactions are secret.
The correctness of this ever growing journal of transactions (the blockchain) is proved with constant digital signatures and hashing. Its a chain of proof, so once a transaction is buried in it, there is no way to change it without recalculation of everything subsequent. Since the blockchain is fully public, it is impossible to corrupt.
Bitcoins are created (mined) by doing math, at a fixed rate per hour, in a kind of worldwide race by miners, as the number created approaches a pre-determined limit they get harder to create, by 2020 all have been created. Without economies of scale it costs more in power to create a bitcoin than it is worth.
So now you've got the digital equivalent of super-cash:
- notes and coins are the btc
- cannot be forged
- limited supply so cannot be inflated to worthlessness
- practically infinite number of wallets, possess a wallet and you possess the contents of it
Of course the devil is in the details.
But understanding how the blockchain really works and how it hangs together with no central benevolent dictator, is really interesting.
there's a documentary called the Rise and Rise of Bitcoin which is pretty informative and very entertaining.
Also, there's a brief appearance of the Winklevosses (the twins in Social Network, the actual ones): I had good laugh out of the fact that I guessed who they were by their appearance and the fact that they sniffed money out of bitcoin. They really are modern heroes XD
LucidMomentum
Member
Everyone wants a piece of the pie.
haha you tried to be a condescending asshole but you made a fool of yourself. Do you seriously think the AFP are going to flood the market with these coins? they will sit for years.
oh shit I figured the police would liquidate it so they wouldn't have to do another ducking bake sale this year. keeping it in evidence is the same as keeping it in a trust that wasn't touched BUT this opportunity to nab it isn't a bad thought.
wait what if Dogecoin hire Walter White to drive his magnet truck right up alongside the station they're holding it in and vaporize that shit right off the drives, undermine Butcoin credibility...
Those coins already aren't in the money supply. Either they sit for years (status quo) or they liquidate. Even if they destroy them the most that happens is a thing that *could* flood the market now can't, so at best this seizure makes a market crash slightly less likely.
StopMakingSense
Member
- Status
Similar threads
- Locked