5 ms·
Not to sound paranoid, but if the hacker had a vested interest in bitcoin being undermined (government agent?) then money wouldn't be his main motive.
by bobwebb 15y ago
Not to sound paranoid, but if the hacker had a vested interest in bitcoin being undermined (government agent?) then money wouldn't be his main motive.
- hugh3 15y agoNot to sound paranoid... (government agent?) Uh, sorry, that's pretty much textbook paranoia.
- mcantelon 15y agoIt's a possibility. States do work to undermine things that threaten them. The Liberty Dollar project, for example, was recently shut down by the US government: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberty_Dollar http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberty_Dollar . Bitcoin is a potential threat to the state because it provides an ideal instrument for tax avoidance and competition in the drug/force trade.
- hugh3 15y agoIt's a possibility. States do work to undermine things that threaten them. The Liberty Dollar project, for example, was recently shut down by the US government: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberty_Dollar http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberty_Dollar Sure, and they shut it down openly using the hammer and anvil of the FBI and the judicial system. If and when the US Government decides to act against bitcoin, they'll do it loudly and openly... not by some complicated, difficult and illegal scheme that doesn't really achieve anything. Currency issues fall into the jurisdiction of the US Secret Service, an agency not known for subtlety.
- deleted 15y ago[deleted]
- mcantelon 15y agoYeah, if legal and open is more cost effective, they'll likely go that route. Otherwise, they may revert to skullduggery (as they have in the past: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/COINTELPRO http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/COINTELPRO).
- tedunangst 15y agoI think it's a big leap to go from illegal wiretaps to hacking and stealing.
- mcantelon 15y agoCOINTELPRO included "extralegal violence and assassination" according to Wikipedia. So it's weird to think that the authorities would rule out a bit of hacking to protect their interests.
- 27182818284 15y agoIt was less that reason and more of an explicit violation of law. "Whoever, except as authorized by law, makes or utters or passes, or attempts to utter or pass, any coins of gold or silver or other metal, or alloys of metals, intended for use as current money, whether in the resemblance of coins of the United States or of foreign countries, or of original design, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than five years, or both."