Spain, arrested 30, illegally distributing pay television

I do worry about the Bitcoin. It seems to me that it has all the hallmarks of a pyramid or Ponzi scheme.

Every transaction is recorded as part of every Bitcoin which surely means that the Bitcoin is set for unlimited growth in file size. This cannot continue eternally as this would logically create an infinite sized file.

In addition Bitcoins can be "mined" used intense computational power. Frankly I don't see the financial sense in this as I've yet to see how much each Bitcoin costs in terms of electricity used, let alone amortising the equipment costs. Then there's the creator of the Bitcoin, whoever he/she might be, who obviously got in at the beginning at is sitting on a stack of Bitcoins created when they were relatively easy to create.

This is surely an empire built on nothing.
 
Jokes aside, we have so many long running corruption / fraud cases ongoing in Spain, involving local politicians, national politicians, bankers and even members of the royal family, I´m surprised they have opened another, no doubt long running, can of worms.
Guess the Guardia Civil and the National Police are trying to show they are doing something.
 
Milamber said:
Jokes aside, we have so many long running corruption / fraud cases ongoing in Spain, involving local politicians, national politicians, bankers and even members of the royal family
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Sort of like in UK then....
 
PaulR said:
...Every transaction is recorded as part of every Bitcoin.....

In addition Bitcoins can be "mined" used intense computational power. Frankly I don't see the financial sense in this as I've yet to see how much each Bitcoin costs in terms of electricity used...
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The bitcoins can be "washed" using various sites on the Dark Web, I assume this "washing" eradicates the transaction trail arising from any illegal purchases?

Bitcoin mining can be done by people living at home under the roof of their parents. In these cases, the parents probably foot the electricity bill so the bitcoin miner gets the profit. It's a win lose situation for the miner and parents.
 
moonbase said:
The bitcoins can be "washed" using various sites on the Dark Web, I assume this "washing" eradicates the transaction trail arising from any illegal purchases?
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I wasn't aware of that. I don't really understand how that might be possible and surely invalidates one of the core aspects of Bitcoins. I'll take a look at this when I have some time.
moonbase said:
Bitcoin mining can be done by people living at home under the roof of their parents. In these cases, the parents probably foot the electricity bill so the bitcoin miner gets the profit. It's a win lose situation for the miner and parents.
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Quite. I also wonder about the greater question of whether the energy consumption is even remotely sustainable. To my mind this "mining" is akin to, and about as pointless as, whitewashing coal.
 
Bitcoins, the currency of the geek and the internet-based criminal, after all, when you get them ransomware things, they always demand bitcoins...
 
moonbase said:
The bitcoins can be "washed" using various sites on the Dark Web, I assume this "washing" eradicates the transaction trail arising from any illegal purchases?
Click to expand...

It's more of a trade than a wash.

Say I have £10,000 worth of bitcoin I need to "clean", I'd visit several bitcoin mixer sites on the web, I give them £400 worth of bitcoin which is added to the bottom of the pile and take £400 worth of bitcoins from the top of the pile (and this would be done on several sites until all £10,000 worth have been swapped out)

In essence as long as I use different wallets for paying in and cashing out there should be no logical way to link the bottom pay in to the top cash out.

I will however receive someone else's "tainted" coins in return so although you are getting rid of the coins you blackmailed from that business man, you may receive some back that helped pay for a hit man or a kidnapping.
 
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