The Fall of the Bitcoin - The Perfect Crime

As the days go by, more and more warnings are coming out about BitCoin. It seems like it's one catastrophe after another. Though, it's not just BitCoin. Ethy is also vulnerable to problems. Anyone that understands how the Crypto market works, when one major Crypto is affected negatively, many Crypto fall close behind. When BitCoin goes down, all but guaranteed to follow.

Is it just random bad luck? If not, who's behind it? Could it be the banks? Could it be the government? World powers?

One of the biggest problems about BitCoin and other Crypto is simply security. Exchanges getting Hacked/Robbed, sometimes by their owners. Hackers sneaking vira into personal PCs to snoop out Crypto and stealing it from them without their knowledge. Now, even websites are tricking your computer to mine for them!

A major problem is not much different than getting held up at gunpoint in a dark alley. Well, actually, it's pretty much just like that....

In the beach resort of Phuket, Thailand, last month, the assailants pushed their victim, a young Russian man, into his apartment and kept him there, blindfolded, until he logged onto his computer and transferred about $100,000 worth of Bitcoin to an online wallet they controlled.

A few weeks before that, the head of a Bitcoin exchange in Ukraine was taken hostage and only released after the company paid a ransom of $1 million in Bitcoin.

In New York City, a man was held captive by a friend until he transferred over $1.8 million worth of Ether, a virtual currency second in value only to Bitcoin.

So why is it a problem and how is it so easy to get away with it?

Virtual currencies can be easily transferred to an anonymous address set up by a criminal. While banks can stop or reverse large electronic transactions made under duress, there is no Bitcoin bank to halt or take back a transfer, making the chances of a successful armed holdup frighteningly enticing.

“This is now becoming more pervasive and touching more law enforcement divisions that deal with organized crime and violent crime on a local level,” said Jonathan Levin, the founder of Chainalysis, which has worked with several law enforcement agencies on virtual currency crimes.

Mr. Levin’s company specializes in tracking criminal transactions on the blockchain, the computerized ledger where every Bitcoin transaction is publicly recorded.

But even when a transaction can be tracked, the design of Bitcoin means that criminals do not have to associate their identity with their Bitcoin address — as is necessary with most traditional bank accounts. That has stymied police in several cases.

“For this, the advantage of Bitcoin is that it’s hard to verify,” said Chanut Hongsitthichaikul, an investigator with the Chalong Police Station, which investigated the case in Phuket. “We asked the victim how to track it since they know Bitcoin better than us. We asked them how to check the receiver. They said there is no way. It's hard to do".

Just because you're not seeing it in the news, doesn't mean it's not more wide spread. Apparently it goes on often without our knowledge. I imagine that once it gets out more, more and more people will leave the Crypto Market because of the risk.

Chainalysis has helped police attempt to track down criminals in several recent cases, including some that have not been made public, according to Mr. Levin.

The tactics seems to be boundless. Getting held up isn't the only problem.

While the recent crime wave has brought a new level of violence, virtual currency holders have been targets for several years. Criminals have been staging a long-running campaign to remotely hijack the cellphone numbers of prominent virtual currency holders in order to gain control of their digital wallets.

A few years ago, some of Bitcoin’s earliest proponents had SWAT teams called to their homes by people who demanded big Bitcoin payments to stop the harassment — a tactic called “SWATing” in some online communities.

There have also been many documented holdups around the world at in-person meetings where people were looking to convert cash into virtual currency, including one last year in Palm Beach, Fla., where the thief made off with $28,000 before being arrested.

And the heists are no small change

The most audacious attack hit Exmo, the virtual currency exchange in Ukraine. The chief executive of the exchange, Pavel Lerner, was abducted the day after Christmas and freed a few days later after the company made a ransom payment of Bitcoin worth around $1 million.

A month earlier, a Turkish businessman was forced to hand over the passwords to his virtual currency wallets — containing nearly $3 million worth of Bitcoin — after having his car stopped by an armed gang in Istanbul that appeared to know about his Bitcoin holdings, according to local news reports.

Even though there are people out there trying to protect you by making you more anonymous and making wallets harder to steal from, it really does nothing to stop the thefts.

Imagine going on vacation and being kidnapped and held for ransom. Your ransom is 4 million dollars. Normally, that money could be tracked but since the age of BitCoin... Tracking is very, very slim and your kidnappers are likely to get away with it. Gone are the days of dropping the money off at the bridge in a bowling bag...



NYT: Bitcoin Thieves Threaten Real Violence for Virtual Currencies

NO FEAR

No the coin will not fail.

It seems to be as stable or more that the stock market.

The ledger platform is here to stay and is changing the face of the world.

I am starting to see now just how a war is brewing against huge money institutions.

This is some Jesus level stuff.

There's a huge difference between hacking people and conducting phishing scams and an actual problem with BTC itself.

Solve the digital wallet issue with hardware wallet.

Hardware wallets for cryptocurrencies

a reply to: StallionDuck

Is it just random bad luck? If not, who's behind it? Could it be the banks? Could it be the government? World powers?

All of the above. If it isn't regulated it isn't official, it isn't approved.

Look what happened to Saddam and Qaddafi. They wanted to exchange oil purchases from Petro Dollars (US dollars) to gold.

Tilt...

a reply to: intrptr

In order for them to take out bitcoin they first have to know its origin.

The creator remains unknown. Yes they are desperately trying to destroy it.

originally posted by: howtonhawky
a reply to: intrptr

In order for them to take out bitcoin they first have to know its origin.

The creator remains unknown. Yes they are desperately trying to destroy it.

Because its unregulated, Banks don't get their 'cut'.

They don't need to destroy it, just its credibility, then it will die on its own.

Can't bomb the country of bitcoin.

a reply to: howtonhawky

Yes they are desperately trying to destroy it.

Except they're not.

The CFTC and other regulatory agencies in the US are very warm to cryptocurrency.

The total market cap for all cryptos is less than some individual companies. It's big, but in the grand scheme of things, it's small potatoes.

SOME countries have decided to ban it for citizens, but officially sanction the tech for government and institutional use. They are in the minority. Quite frankly, they are just dumb enough to think Bitcoin is something that CAN be banned.

a reply to: intrptr

lol credibility

Each time a new blockchain system comes online the credibility goes up.

As far as bit coin itself goes it is protected very well by wall street and very many political officials are deeply invested at large into bit coin. However that can not be proven.

a reply to: howtonhawky

It seems to be as stable or more that the stock market.

Unfortunately you are factually incorrect. The Bitcoin is not more stable than the stock market. The value of indexes like Dow, Nasdaq, Russell 2000 and more do not wildly swing by hundreds of percentage points from day to day.

Nobody is doubting the technology, only the viability and lifespan of private digital notes before the Central Banks utilize their politicians to outlaw them one by one over the next decade until only government issued digital notes are the standard. The positive note is that those will be significantly more stable than the current climate of private digital notes, which you all commonly know now as Crypto Currency.

If you want to see a clear case of manipulation, there was just a $340 million dollar purchase of the coin. Who exactly do you believe has that kind of liquidity to simply make that kind of bulk deal to rive up the price in anticipation of another dump?? Sure there are rich billionaires out there. But billionaires do not typically do such reckless actions because they are not as liquid as they want themselves to appear. That kind of movement from billionaires typically requires liquidating other assets that affect the contracts they are tied to as well.

This is a bank purchase to con more money from the suckers. If you are lucky though you will sell after these kind of deals are made, and then buy back when they dump and kill the price again. That is how smart people need to play this game until the inevitable legislative action comes some time in the near future.

This is the exact same trick banks have already been brought to court for doing with the gold and silver futures market. Tell yourself this, if it was the banks that were guilty of that manipulation, who would logically be responsible for this clear manipulation??

a reply to: StallionDuck

Stop spreading FUD.

BTC is just like any currency now. The bad guys can come along and steal it from you.

Like with having large amounts of fiat, you must also have security so you are not targeted by thieves looking to steal your crypto.

a reply to: grey580

You want to watch a nerd try and hack my actual wallet?

originally posted by: projectvxn
There's a huge difference between hacking people and conducting phishing scams and an actual problem with BTC itself.

Solve the digital wallet issue with hardware wallet.

Hardware wallets for cryptocurrencies

Yea i like the idea.

I still have a wallet from 2011 out there somewhere that i forgot.

originally posted by: projectvxn
a reply to: howtonhawky

Yes they are desperately trying to destroy it.

Except they're not.

The CFTC and other regulatory agencies in the US are very warm to cryptocurrency.

The total market cap for all cryptos is less than some individual companies. It's big, but in the grand scheme of things, it's small potatoes.

SOME countries have decided to ban it for citizens, but officially sanction the tech for government and institutional use. They are in the minority. Quite frankly, they are just dumb enough to think Bitcoin is something that CAN be banned.

Which in itself is really odd. They're loosing serious amounts of tax dollars on it. No way to regulate it and no way to put their hands on what they feel would be their share. That's what's so mysterious about it. It doesn't make sense.

The Fall of the Bitcoin - The Perfect Crime

Is the solution is obvious?

If's its anonymous?

Don't tell anyone you own some.

a reply to: worldstarcountry

Exactly and well put.

I wouldn't consider this very stable:




The things that are being done (obviously) right under everyone's noses are illegal in the stock market and yet no one even lifts an eyebrow over it happening in Crypto. Not to mention, as my previous response, no one seems to really care about it's existence. Perhaps that's because the government and politicians themselves are taking part in the scheme for easy money or even money laundering. Only that would make sense to me.

originally posted by: neo96
The Fall of the Bitcoin - The Perfect Crime

Is the solution is obvious?

If's its anonymous?

Don't tell anyone you own some.

Yeah but what about criminals just kidnapping you and demanding the ransom be paid in Crypto? They don't have to steal from people who have it. They have been hijacking computers all over the world and lock you out of your system until you pay them. Many hospitals had to do just that because of how serious it was and how badly they needed them back right away. No time to investigate.

Bitcoin is a secret black ops project designed to pay off the US government debt.

Here's how it works.

The NSA created bitcoin, and unleashed it onto the world stage.

As the creators, they hold the initial coins, so gain the most from the rise.

Then they market the crypto to investors using seminars, news, and shows, and also bid up the price to encourage investors to get in the game.

When bitcoin hits a particular number, say $20,000 USD/1coin, the NSA dump some of their coin holdings to grab the "Yuge" profit, and park those USD into a special "DFRA" (i.e. Debt Fund Repayment Account).

Meanwhile, dumping such a huge amount of bitcoin all at once causes the investors to panic, and sell too, so bitcoin undergoes a mini crash.

That's the 1st round, the government has padded their DFRA account, and now start to work on round two.

With bitcoin fallen, the NSA then buys more bitcoin, and starts to bid up the price again. Investors regain confidence, thinking that the mini crash was just a "healthy correction" and the game is on again. Bitcoin again approaches $20,000/1coin, and the NSA dumps their holdings again.

Round 2, and the DFRA account gets even more padding of USD, to pay down the government debt.

Since Bitcoin capitalization is in the Billions of dollars, it won't take long before the government has collected a couple trillion USD, all provided courtesy of the "greedy investors" seeking quick and easy profits.

Then, one day, not too long in the Future, Donald Trump holds a special news conference to anounce some "Exciting News", at which he "reveals" the secret plans that were undertaken and completed under his administration, to invest in a portfolio of cryptocurrencies, managed by "the smartest people" in America, and having achieved "tremendous" investment success, the US Government is now completely "Debt Free".

The people respond, "All Hail Donald Trump", our Glorious Leader who freed us all, and our children, from the errors of all past presidents of these United States.



The Donald then gets a Statue made of Solid Gold, placed in Washington D.C. as a permanent reminder of our savior.

originally posted by: grey580
a reply to: StallionDuck

Stop spreading FUD.

BTC is just like any currency now. The bad guys can come along and steal it from you.

Like with having large amounts of fiat, you must also have security so you are not targeted by thieves looking to steal your crypto.

I don't know what FUD is but you're most incorrect. Re-read my post. I show examples of what makes it different. Comment on what I actually posted, not what you 'think' the OP says.

a reply to: StallionDuck

You seem to be worried much about the irs getting their cut.

Never fear cause people still have to pay taxes.

When you spend monies they tax you and when you transfer cash into non coin accounts you have to claim it.

Really they are not missing out on much.