German Police Secure $2 Billion In Bitcoin From Pirate Site Operators (torrentfreak.com) 42
An anonymous reader quotes a report from TorrentFreak: With help from the FBI, German police managed to secure nearly 50,000 bitcoin (USD $2 billion) from the operators of the defunct movie streaming portal, Movie2k. [...] Movie2K was another pirate site that showed an early interest in bitcoin. In its heyday, the site was the dominant pirate streaming portal in German-speaking countries. It generated a healthy revenue stream, part of it held in bitcoin. The operator of the site never got to spend most of it though. The site surprisingly shut down in the spring of 2013. Many suspected that legal troubles had plagued the site, something confirmed years later when Dresden police announced several arrests.
It was rare to see new activity in an already-dated dossier, but the biggest surprise followed later when the police announced that $29.7m in bitcoin had been secured from the site's operators. This 'seizure' was one of the largest of its kind but the authorities estimated that the operators had more bitcoin stashed away, much more. Today, new information released by Dresden police shows that the assumption was correct.
Following an investigation carried out by the Dresden General Prosecutor's Office, the Saxony State Criminal Police, and the local tax authority (INES), nearly 50,000 bitcoin were 'provisionally' secured earlier this month. The haul is worth more than $2 billion at today's exchange rate. Never before has this much bitcoin been secured by German authorities; it's also one of the largest crypto hauls worldwide. "The Bitcoins were seized after the accused voluntarily transferred them to official wallets provided by the [Federal Criminal Police Office]. This means that a final decision has not yet been made about the utilization of the Bitcoins," police write.
It was rare to see new activity in an already-dated dossier, but the biggest surprise followed later when the police announced that $29.7m in bitcoin had been secured from the site's operators. This 'seizure' was one of the largest of its kind but the authorities estimated that the operators had more bitcoin stashed away, much more. Today, new information released by Dresden police shows that the assumption was correct.
Following an investigation carried out by the Dresden General Prosecutor's Office, the Saxony State Criminal Police, and the local tax authority (INES), nearly 50,000 bitcoin were 'provisionally' secured earlier this month. The haul is worth more than $2 billion at today's exchange rate. Never before has this much bitcoin been secured by German authorities; it's also one of the largest crypto hauls worldwide. "The Bitcoins were seized after the accused voluntarily transferred them to official wallets provided by the [Federal Criminal Police Office]. This means that a final decision has not yet been made about the utilization of the Bitcoins," police write.
Re: Because CREIMER! (Score:1)
Re: Because CREIMER! (Score:2)
Have you considered he might have had a mental breakdown and has been committed to a mental health hospital?
But I think it's likely he's dead, he was not in great shape and had a poor diet.
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Have they managed to use it? What exchange did they pull $2 billion out of?
I hope the pirates, at least, get credit for the fines they paid with Monopoly money.
Flog them (Score:3)
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What I can't figure out is why the site operators were not cashing them out. $50 million is more than enough to retire on. Go to some country without an extradition treaty in place and live the rest of your life in luxury.
But no, they decided to carry on running a pirate streaming website, watching the operators of similar websites get taken down one by one.
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The article mentioned that the site was closed on 2013. Bitcoins were worth a couple of 100 those days, I think. Thats only 5mil to 10mil for 50000 bit coins. Not really enough for a couple of people to retire comfortably without worry.
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I see. 10 million (USD I presume) seems like enough to retire to somewhere like Vietnam or Indonesia. If they liked Europe then Ukraine doesn't have an extradition treaty with Germany, and in 2013 it was very far away from EU membership.
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Assuming it's more then 1 person, everyone will want a share. Even if 5 or 10 mil per person, it may not be enough to grease the way for the rest of your life, especially if you are young (and I assume the people / person involved were not young - bit coins, 10 years ago, mostly a younger generation thing).
30-40 years on 10 mil, to cover all possible expenses, and unexpected corruption expenses, not going to be easy.
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That would be utterly stupid. That would be two billion dollars worth of stupid.
How do you figure bitcoins are worth anything? If you sell them the price drops. If nobody wants to buy from your wallet you're stuck with them. Bitcoin has no value. It's worth $0. Bitcoin Bros can scam anyone all day long but if there's not another idiot coming tomorrow to buy your worthless $0 stuff for more than that, it is still $0. That's what it is. Not $20K, not $40K, nobody gives a shit about the upcoming split except for wannabe rags wagging their tongues.
Bitcoin was. Nobody adopted it for paymen
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Not to mention that it is much easier for a central agency, like a government, to "cancel" currency stuff.
The whole point of "Decentralized" is partially that - nobody can take your coins away. EVERYBODY would have to agree to not take them.
It's also very much a "fiat" currency, in that there is nothing backing bitcoin. There's no big bin of gold, for example, that you can exchange your bitcoins for.
Gavron is right about it not being worth anything more than what you can get somebody to pay for it though.
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Look up the definition of the word FIAT.
It does not mean "unbacked".
It means by DECREE.
People are adopting Bitcoin voluntarily, not because some governement are forcing/coercing people to use it to pay taxes or transact.
Golds value is a fraction of what it trades for if it doesnt have the monetary premium it currently enjoys. Its a rock. It has uses for sure, but not worth the price its currently trading for.
Prices are set at the margin. If people, voluntarily, believe something has value, its fungible, div
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Funny, when I searched for "fiat currency", I got back "government issued money that isn't backed by a commodity such as gold".
That it isn't backed is the part I consider important.
Bitcoin is too hard to trade to be considered "money". It's more of an asset. A much more dangerous asset than gold.
Re: Cancel them (Score:2)
You are confusing money with currency.
Bitcoin IS money.
It has subjective value and people transact with it but mostly hold it as a store of value.
Currency is mainly for transacting. And Bitcoin currently isn't widely adopted or easy to do this.
Eventually L2 techs will improve and add a more transactable layer.
Bit that isn't a necessity for BTC to be money.
Like it isn't for Gold.
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You don't want to be holding "money" as a store of value. That's a large part of the problem with it.
For money/currency to be good, it needs to flow. I look at it a lot like the oil of the economic engine - by itself, it's useless. It's real value comes in keeping the economic engine turning smoothly, without too much friction.
Your L2 techs will probably take a lot of the "benefits" of bitcoin away, just saying.
Re: Cancel them (Score:2)
I disagree.
Money is an asset and can be used to save.
Saving is important, it allows those with a low time preference to plan for the future and save for an investment or purchase.
Today we are forced to buy securities with 3rd party risks or park our worth in real estate which has a host of other problems.
https://www.currencytransfer.c... [currencytransfer.com]
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Money is an asset and can be used to save.
Of the list of things to invest in, money is generally among the worst.
What most people forget is that when they invest their money in a mutual fund or whatever, while there might be a money value attached to it, they no longer hold that money.
Generally speaking, money that is parked as a value holder isn't doing the economy any good. Thus the idea of slowly depreciating money. They don't want you to hold it. Go buy something with it.
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That is only a reality since the depegging of money from gold.
Technology is deflationary. Prices should be going down as we improve processes and efficient because of technology.
Our money is broken. The excuse of money needs to circulate creates perverse incentives.
- Rising real estate, pricing people out of shelter.
- Zombie companies, usless investments in companies that should NEVER have existed.
- Economic bubbles and crashes that last much longer than they should.
Wasteful consumerism and environmental im
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German native here. What's a stassi?
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sigh ... https://www.google.com/search?... [google.com]
Re: Cancel them (Score:1)
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Setting it to infinity would be funnier.
Pyrite Pete's failed prediction (Score:1)
On Monday April 26, 2021 @02:16AM UTC, Pyrite Pete [urbandictionary.com] had said:
That was back when bitcoin had already fallen, and down to about $47K at the time. It should've been back up to "twice its value" no later than June 26 2021 - over 2 years ago. It's currently nowhere near the $94K Pyrite Pete promised us.
Now that's what I call a prediction #FAIL!
Want more LOLs @ Pyrite Pete shitposts? Here are but a sample:
It is pretty much a given that BTC will be up to 100,00 [slashdot.org]
Final decision (Score:1)
"a final decision has not yet been made about the utilization of the Bitcoins."
I would quickly sell them to the next fool. Its ponzi money. Will fluctuate for a time. But in the end is going to zero. I think at one point, even Elon the genius bought $2b worth of ponzi currency. Sold it at a loss I believe.
$2B should be enough to cover their liabilities (Score:2)
Amateur (Score:2)
Dude should have flipped it for XMR at the first possible opportunity.
German Police showing that crime does actually pay (Score:1)