Bitcoin seizure The U.S. Justice Department has seized around $1 billion worth of bitcoins from "Individual X," who is apparently a person rather than a mid-'90s industrial band. Identity aside, the timing is interesting: the digital wallet holding the virtual coins belonged to a hacker who stole them from the operator of the taken-out Silk Road underground marketplace in 2012, and the coins were shifted in 2015, after which they stayed still. So why did no one touch them in the last five years? Fortune
"The government hasn't announced what it will do with the seized Bitcoins, but in the past it has sold them though auctions run by the U.S. Marshals Service, with the proceeds primarily going to law enforcement agencies." Only in the US can law enforcement become a business
They weren't seized, Bitcoin cannot be siezed without breaking a password that in turn is weak and therefore crackable. Siezing is a clickable headline when handed over to the FBI (or whoever) isn't as jazzy. Or the FBI used some good old force/threats to the individual. And yes, they'll be auctioned off, lots of buyers will be waiting to make an easy purchase of such size. Interesting concept of tainted Bitcoins becoming non-tainted as well.
I dont understand bitcoin, the mining for bitcoin, It feels like a concept of advanced mathematics.. perhaps common sense prevails, as it feels like it's from a sci-fi movie. Then, we put our money on USB sticks, .. okay. I'm in my mid 30s, and cant get my mind around it.. lol. Very weary of the security of it all. Anyone else agree with me?
The only people that have a good ground of what Bitcoin is, and what it's trying to do, are the people that have taken the time, many months, to research it. Nothing comes easy with Bitcoin, certainly not holding it...
If you're in your mid-30's, you should know how to install and use a phone app. Coinbase has an app and they hold the bitcoins for you and protect your crypto holdings with their infrastructure. You can also use Gemini, Square, and now PayPal [You don't put your money or bitcoins on a usb stick. You can have a local bitcoin wallet that can hold the private keys in order to sign the transactions and broadcast on the bitcoin network for transferring bitcoin from 1 address to another. Bitcoins are on the blockchain, distributed and decentralized public ledger. TL;DR, TMI, just use the app If you remember the very first Bourne Identity movie where Jason had that capsule with LED showing his Swiss bank account, if it was a bitcoin private key, there's no need to go to the bank , he could travel to SE Asia and cash out what he needs, but he won't be able to get the gun and passports, though] ]