Sleeping beauty Bitcoin wallets wake up after 14 years to the tune of $2B

Re:Sleeping beauty Bitcoin wallets wake up after 14 years to... by dovys on Saturday July 05, 2025 @02:02AM (#44470410)

Speculation, get rich quick schemes and scams. They will exist no matter what. At least the barrier to entry to get scammed is higher with crypto than just online payments

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Re:Sleeping beauty Bitcoin wallets wake up after 14 years to... by Synaesthesia on Saturday July 05, 2025 @03:47AM (#44470867)

No, scamming people is much easier with crypto. The transactions are irreversible, for one.

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Re:Sleeping beauty Bitcoin wallets wake up after 14 years to... by akritrime on Saturday July 05, 2025 @04:39AM (#44471132)

As it is with cash.

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Re:Sleeping beauty Bitcoin wallets wake up after 14 years to... by PartiallyTyped on Saturday July 05, 2025 @07:25AM (#44471965)

Cash is backed by a government, which can coerce parties into following the law.

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Re:Sleeping beauty Bitcoin wallets wake up after 14 years to... by superjan on Saturday July 05, 2025 @05:07AM (#44471265)

And crypto scamming is anonymous, low risk and can be automated. Scamming people for cash requires you to get close to each of your victims.

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Re:Sleeping beauty Bitcoin wallets wake up after 14 years to... by FabHK on Saturday July 05, 2025 @07:38AM (#44472023)

Indeed. The Economist estimates the modern scam industry to be as large as the illicit drug trade by now, around $500 bn annually in revenue. Enabled in large part by crypto (pig butchering, ransomware, rug pulls were not a huge thing before crypto).

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Re:Sleeping beauty Bitcoin wallets wake up after 14 years to... by t1E9mE7JTRjf on Saturday July 05, 2025 @07:17AM (#44471912)

> They will exist no matter what

Ok, so then they're not a bitcoin thing then right?

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