The scheme to arrest the Bank of Greece governor & raiding national mint was separate to the Varoufakis' plan, and to try to combine the two is a huge mistake. That plan was just dumb, while the Varoufakis plan was crazy and or subtle.

I view Varoufakis's plan as a trump card to play against the Troika. The Troika believe that - in the end - the Greeks would always roll over and give in to their proposals.

Varoufakis plan was to be able to say "you didn't count on this crazy plan* and be able to present something that was undoubtedly crazy, but just credible enough to make the Troika think that the Greeks might try it.

Sometimes acting crazy is the best strategy. To quote:

it turns out that the best strategy if you get to play the game only once is to make the most credible attempt possible in pretending to be a Hawk while actually being a Dove. When you are in one of the cars heading for each other, growl, scream, throw bottles out he window, swerve and then come back onto the road again. In short give the impression that you are mad and unpredictable, and definitely capable of doing mad things like not swerving under any circumstances. Do not signal that you may compromise, even though you know you will.

[1] http://karlstrobl.com/2015/05/28/varoufakis-and-game-theory/

I don't see that as crazy. The national bank is still led by a member of the old cast, who is hostile to Syriza.

Besides the fact the Troika controlling the data of the finance ministry, the tax files, with no access to the current legal authority, you should also consider the likely possibility of a military coup to get rid of Syriza.

The trumped up language by the germans and their press made it very likely to prepare such a step. This didn't come forward yet. But given the history I call it very likely. Until the referendum backed them up.

And of course the Troika also had their plan B developed in secret, a similar group of 5, getting rid of Greece in the eurozone, despite it was against the EU rules. This was in the news last month. But they never offered Greece assistance to leave the Eurozone. Schaeuble at least talked publicly about it, and was punished for it.

In the grexit scenario raiding their assets is the best thing to do. But the more interesting question is if the military (with support by the Troika) would have taken over. Exciting times.

Varoufakis didn't care about his crazy plans destroying the economy, because he only intended to use them as a threat. "Give us what we want or we will crash out of the Euro!"

And then the people on the other side of the table said: "Excellent, go on!"

Not only did the Troika believe that in the end the Greek government would "roll over and give in to their proposals": many EU governments and officials actually preferred the alternative.

The negotiations of the past weeks have shown that not only Greece was bluffing about leaving the Euro, but that other countries would be more than happy to let them leave.