Bitcoin mining towns: Texas Republican voters getting fucked by the Republican politicians they voted for

[Pam Cummings 9422]

Just now, wildcat09 said:

It's not untraceable, actually, it's just anonymous. If someone is able to figure out which wallet(s) are yours, they can pretty easily figure out literally everything you've ever spent bitcoin on. 

TIL

[Captainant 26913]

1 minute ago, Pam Cummings said:

TIL

There's a whole field of forensic blockchain analysis that's been key to unwinding quite a few cryptofrauds and criminal prosecutions - Silk Road included

https://www.wired.com/story/the-science-of-crypto-forensics-court-battle

[Nice Guy Eddie 13310]

Yep. Once you use bitcoin for one transaction where someone can identify you, much of your bitcoin history can be followed. Some other cryptos offer more anonymity and zero trace but those cryptos (called privacy coins) have been pushed out of the mainstream market by the govt.

[Ghost of LL 15255]

49 minutes ago, wildcat09 said:

It's not untraceable, actually, it's just anonymous. If someone is able to figure out which wallet(s) are yours, they can pretty easily figure out literally everything you've ever spent bitcoin on. 

 

47 minutes ago, Captainant said:

There's a whole field of forensic blockchain analysis that's been key to unwinding quite a few cryptofrauds and criminal prosecutions - Silk Road included

https://www.wired.com/story/the-science-of-crypto-forensics-court-battle

This is exactly right.  The money-laundering benefit of bitcoin is in the anonymity.  But it is traceable because it is not fungible.

In the same way that dollar bills are not fungible, neither is bitcoin.  Dollar bills have serial numbers, so you can trace the bills that the feds handed over to DB Cooper and see that none of them have ever been spent.  In much the same way, bitcoin has an identifying code that can travels with the bitcoin (or portion of bitcoin) through every transaction.  The important difference is that in the ordinary course of business, nobody records the serial numbers of dollar bills.  So dollar bills are "considered fungible."  But with bitcoin, its identifying code is recorded with every transaction.  So it's not even "considered fungible."

Compare that with the dollars that are in my bank account.  Those dollars are "actual fungible."  I can wire them to a different account in which they are comingled with other funds, and it's impossible to differentiate those dollars from the dollars that were previously in that account with which they were comingled.

[Captainant 26913]

16 minutes ago, Ghost of LL said:

Compare that with the dollars that are in my bank account.  Those dollars are "actual fungible."  I can wire them to a different account in which they are comingled with other funds, and it's impossible to differentiate those dollars from the dollars that were previously in that account with which they were comingled.

Well now you're just describing a tumbler, where a bunch of wallets deposit and intermingle funds to confound tractability and the operator keeps a percentage take for their trouble

[DDD Dad 14062]

On 7/10/2024 at 9:45 AM, C-Man said:

Or was it a Midnight Oil song? Hmm ...

 

On 7/10/2024 at 10:15 AM, UTCzech III said:

Dammit!  Was just bringing my fingers to the keyboard...  

 

 

[atomheartbevo 89015]

1 hour ago, Captainant said:

There's a whole field of forensic blockchain analysis that's been key to unwinding quite a few cryptofrauds and criminal prosecutions - Silk Road included

https://www.wired.com/story/the-science-of-crypto-forensics-court-battle

1 hour ago, Nice Guy Eddie said:

Yep. Once you use bitcoin for one transaction where someone can identify you, much of your bitcoin history can be followed. Some other cryptos offer more anonymity and zero trace but those cryptos (called privacy coins) have been pushed out of the mainstream market by the govt.

I’ve told more than one family member/friend/former co-worker that got into the bitcoin stuff and who have touted it as a means of private transactions, etc. basically this exact thing, and asked them “what if the government not only allowed bitcoin to take off, but were involved with it from the start so that they could easily track criminals.  If somebody comes up with the idea of a virtual currency that is untraceable, do you really think the US government is going to ignore that?”

[Captainant 26913]

2 hours ago, atomheartbevo said:

I’ve told more than one family member/friend/former co-worker that got into the bitcoin stuff and who have touted it as a means of private transactions, etc. basically this exact thing, and asked them “what if the government not only allowed bitcoin to take off, but were involved with it from the start so that they could easily track criminals.  If somebody comes up with the idea of a virtual currency that is untraceable, do you really think the US government is going to ignore that?”

Just wait till they hear about who came up with the TOR network

[NeverMarryAStripper 21765]

@TOR ?

[gmr548 16312]

On 7/11/2024 at 12:15 PM, Ghost of LL said:

They're not really all over the country.  Texas dominates bitcoin mining in the United States (and consequently, the world).  And that is in large part because, as @Captainant rightly points out, they can make more money in Texas by turning off their machines than they can anywhere actually mining bitcoin.

We're going to look back on bitcoin in the medium-term future with nothing but disgust and wonderment.  Between the physical harm it's doing to rural residents who live near these miners, the environmental harm it is doing with its electric and water consumption, and the financial harm it has done to millions of people who aren't financially literate, bitcoin has caused/is causing untold amounts of human suffering.  All for what?  A product whose sole utility is money laundering and rube-fleecing?

It really is a fair encapsulation of 34 years of Republican governance in Texas.

I don't disagree with any of this, my point was more that there is energy-hogging technoloigical infrastructure going up all over the country Bitcoin or otherwise.

Like I said, I acknowledge that Texas has gone out of its way to cozy up to Bitcoin mining operators (I honestly don't even know how that ecosystem works), and that no doubtlies at the feet of the state GOP.