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A comment on Bitcoin mining hash rate drops as blackouts instituted in China. Parent comment

Re:Bitcoin mining hash rate drops as blackouts instituted in... by danans on Sunday April 18, 2021 @02:02PM (#26854779)
> The loan shark driving to bust someone's kneecaps for not paying back loans on time would still be doing exactly the same thing.

Tangential thought...

I might be mistaken, but how can one even collect on defaulted debt denominated in BTC? I thought that the BTC owner still has to transfer BTC themselves, since only they would know the private keys.

Wouldn't the collector literally have to physically threaten the individual to transfer the BTC back, since it's not like they can get a court to order the bank to do it.

I know that ETH supports smart contracts that could in theory automate the terms of the loan, but then what happens if the debtor goes bankrupt?

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Re:Bitcoin mining hash rate drops as blackouts instituted in... by jcranmer on Sunday April 18, 2021 @03:15PM (#26855388)
> Wouldn't the collector literally have to physically threaten the individual to transfer the BTC back, since it's not like they can get a court to order the bank to do it.

What makes you think the court can't order the bank to do it? The court can order you to give some assets up, and if you refuse, they can order your employer to deposit wages directly into creditor's accounts, or the creditor can seize other assets for nonpayment. (For example, some creditors managed to temporarily have an Argentinian Navy ship seized after their default.)

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Re:Bitcoin mining hash rate drops as blackouts instituted in... by danans on Sunday April 18, 2021 @05:08PM (#26856386)
> What makes you think the court can't order the bank to do it?

The bank doesn't have the private keys for the wallet

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