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 jacques_chester on Friday November 06, 2020 @12:36AM (#25005216)

Saying "it's math, yerhonner" is itself handwaving. My point is that a court doesn't need to fixate on the crpytographic impossibilities. They can rely on literally any other evidence. They can gladly drag your friends into court to answer questions. Any of your other assets can be seized or frozen.

Folks who think cryptocurrencies are magic cheat codes are just not aware of the flexibility and enormous powers that a court has to overwhelm mechanistic attempts to defeat their decisions.

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Re:U.S. Feds Seized Nearly $1B in Bitcoin from Wallet Linked... by doggosphere on Friday November 06, 2020 @10:36AM (#25008340)

The defendant doesn't need to say anything, that's the point. The prosecution has to do all the leg work. And they may literally have no other evidence.

- Can the prosecution show where and how Mr. X moved the funds while he was in jail?

- Can they show who he communicated with or ordered to abscond these funds?

- Can they identify who controls the funds now?

- Can they identify anyone else who may have had control of these funds while in their previous wallet?

- Can the prosecution rule with 100% certainty that this was not a hack or theft by some other party, including police?

The answer to those is probably no. Is that enough to convince a judge/jury of reasonable doubt? I'm not a lawyer.

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