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A comment on Ransomware gang threatens release of Washington D.C. police records. Parent comment

Re:Ransomware gang threatens release of Washington D.C. poli... by echelon on Wednesday May 12, 2021 @07:54AM (#27129229)
Seems like the US government could force the Bitcoin devs to lock down any transactions to and from the illicit addresses with a code change to the client. If they don't comply, make crypto illegal and topple the mining rigs.

Permanently kill illegal addresses.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Ransomware gang threatens release of Washington D.C. poli... by JohnJamesRambo on Wednesday May 12, 2021 @07:56AM (#27129245)
That isn’t how any of that works. That’s the beauty of decentralization.
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Re:Ransomware gang threatens release of Washington D.C. poli... by generj on Wednesday May 12, 2021 @08:27AM (#27129470)
The US government can compel nearly every financial institution in the world to stop trading crypto coins for fiat, overnight, as an executive action.

Yes crypto is theoretically decentralized, but in practical terms it is remarkably centralized - very similar to the Internet’s supposed decentralization.

There would be a limited black market but the value of crypto coins would fall to nearly zero. Certainly crypto would be much less attractive as a means of transferring illicit money.

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Re:Ransomware gang threatens release of Washington D.C. poli... by JohnJamesRambo on Wednesday May 12, 2021 @08:39AM (#27129576)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Streisand_effect

Humans want what they cannot have and the government saying you can't have crypto would be the ultimate sign you need crypto. See India and China "bans" on crypto.

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