U.S. Feds Seized Nearly $1B in Bitcoin from Wallet Linked to Silk Road

Re:U.S. Feds Seized Nearly $1B in Bitcoin from Wallet Linked... by aazaa on Thursday November 05, 2020 @01:57PM (#25000860)

I find it extremely amusing that the US government has over the last several years become one of the world's largest traders in bitcoin. It's not quite the path many were predicting back in the early 2010s, but Bitcoin has been full of surprises.

If history is any guide, the bitcoin will be auctioned off sooner rather than later.

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Re:U.S. Feds Seized Nearly $1B in Bitcoin from Wallet Linked... by wil421 on Thursday November 05, 2020 @04:33PM (#25002237)

Wait until you learn how many cars, guns, cash, and expensive valuables the feds seize a year. Not to mention businesses, land, and homes.

I just found a multimillion dollar SF condo and land in Liberia, Costa Rica on the US Marshalls website.

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Re:U.S. Feds Seized Nearly $1B in Bitcoin from Wallet Linked... by my_usernam3 on Thursday November 05, 2020 @05:36PM (#25002852)

Do you have a link? I wonder if that condo is from the owner of silk road.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ross_Ulbricht

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Re:U.S. Feds Seized Nearly $1B in Bitcoin from Wallet Linked... by deadalus on Thursday November 05, 2020 @05:48PM (#25002937)

http://www.drassets.com/#realestate

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Re:U.S. Feds Seized Nearly $1B in Bitcoin from Wallet Linked... by ergwwrt on Thursday November 05, 2020 @07:24PM (#25003615)

Can I buy these properties with Bitcoin? Any financing options or has to be paid in full?

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Re:U.S. Feds Seized Nearly $1B in Bitcoin from Wallet Linked... by wmeredith on Thursday November 05, 2020 @07:16PM (#25003566)

Also drugs.

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Re:U.S. Feds Seized Nearly $1B in Bitcoin from Wallet Linked... by themodelplumber on Thursday November 05, 2020 @02:22PM (#25001073)

John McAfee has been on a bit of an unfortunate downswing, so it's great to see a big name bringing in institutional support during a crisis like this. ;-)

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Re:U.S. Feds Seized Nearly $1B in Bitcoin from Wallet Linked... by power78 on Friday November 06, 2020 @12:37PM (#25009416)

Unfortunate? That guy has done some bad things.

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Re:U.S. Feds Seized Nearly $1B in Bitcoin from Wallet Linked... by herbst on Friday November 06, 2020 @01:48PM (#25010065)

To be fair, when he still owned the mcaffe it wasnt that bad

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Re:U.S. Feds Seized Nearly $1B in Bitcoin from Wallet Linked... by ergwwrt on Thursday November 05, 2020 @07:21PM (#25003598)

It's not the government. It is 3 individuals within that organization sharing a multisig...one of whom has already retired

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Re:U.S. Feds Seized Nearly $1B in Bitcoin from Wallet Linked... by arthurcolle on Thursday November 05, 2020 @11:41PM (#25004962)

They could add it to the Fed's balance sheet along with all the agy MBS and tsy holdings they've added since the pandemic... ;)

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Re:U.S. Feds Seized Nearly $1B in Bitcoin from Wallet Linked... by paulpauper on Thursday November 05, 2020 @05:46PM (#25002924)

Not unless they can prove it was ill-gotten. It has to go through a trial

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Re:U.S. Feds Seized Nearly $1B in Bitcoin from Wallet Linked... by sneak on Thursday November 05, 2020 @06:03PM (#25003062)

If only that were true. The FBI usually goes with the policy of "might makes right".

Especially for relatively low-value items (like laptops, phones, et c) stuff that the state seizes cannot be cost effectively retrieved, even in the absence of a charge or conviction. You're looking at a minimum of $10k USD in legal fees to begin demanding your stuff back.

The "innocent until proven guilty" policy is mostly a myth in the USA.

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Re:U.S. Feds Seized Nearly $1B in Bitcoin from Wallet Linked... by jjeaff on Thursday November 05, 2020 @05:56PM (#25003008)

Looks most likely that the government can keep it unless someone files suit to contest the seizure.

https://www.fbi.gov/investigate/white-collar-crime/asset-for....

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Re:U.S. Feds Seized Nearly $1B in Bitcoin from Wallet Linked... by pessimizer on Thursday November 05, 2020 @07:24PM (#25003617)

> It has to go through a trial

Quite literally. They file suit against the items themselves, and always win.

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Re:U.S. Feds Seized Nearly $1B in Bitcoin from Wallet Linked... by stjohnswarts on Thursday November 05, 2020 @08:48PM (#25004075)

Hard to win when you can't actually testify :) . CAF is such a joke. It really needs to stop (some success at that in some states). The Founding Fathers would never have allowed it.

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Re:U.S. Feds Seized Nearly $1B in Bitcoin from Wallet Linked... by flattone on Thursday November 05, 2020 @02:18PM (#25001043)

u just learned that the us is even a trader of bitcoin at all. you say this not referring to a seizure, right?

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Re:U.S. Feds Seized Nearly $1B in Bitcoin from Wallet Linked... by flattone on Thursday November 05, 2020 @03:44PM (#25001766)

Ok HN what the f is happening. Why are people minusing a question? like.. can i just know what is even wrong here?

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Re:U.S. Feds Seized Nearly $1B in Bitcoin from Wallet Linked... by pc86 on Thursday November 05, 2020 @04:07PM (#25001987)

Poor formatting/spelling/punctuation/readability. "u just learned that the us is even a trader of bitcoin at all" - how do you know what aazaa knew or didn't know prior to commenting?

In general just an incredibly low effort/value comment.

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Re:U.S. Feds Seized Nearly $1B in Bitcoin from Wallet Linked... by mellosouls on Thursday November 05, 2020 @04:13PM (#25002031)

I don't know why you have been down-voted but candidate possibilities include the first sentence being read as snarky (even if it wasn't the intention) and using "u" for "you" in a forum where a more mature* form of expression is the norm.

* I don't intend snark either but I'm not sure how to put it politely...

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