this post was submitted on 18 Mar 2024
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That's my point. If a country really did build up enough Bitcoin it became a world power, those Bitcoin would probably be stolen. If it can happen to gold, it can happen to Bitcoin even easier.
It's ability to be stolen really comes down to was the password to it ever written down or did they not use a password.
If they didn't write it down, you could conceivably keep it safe from theft as long as the people that know the password don't give it up if tortured.
Also breaking it up into multiple wallets with different passwords that not everyone knows would limit a complete theft.
Edit: in the scenario where it can't be stolen, killing everyone that knows the password would still leave the country with nothing though.
It has to be easy enough to move the Bitcoins that it can be done when needed. For example, if you split the password up among too many people, then you could "disappear" one of those people and then the Bitcoins suddenly cease to exist (or practically so).
So there's a balance. If it's easy to move the Bitcoins, then a thief can find a way to move all the Bitcoins into their own wallet. Or, if it's very difficult to move the Bitcoins, then an adversary can find a way to make it impossible to move the Bitcoins, essentially destroying them.
I think they should do something dramatic like having a room where the NOC List was stored, but with an air vent on the door instead of the ceiling.
Why faster? The gold was in a ship because the gold had to be carried, which isn't the case with bitcoin. If there is no ship you can steal, you won't get anything
If I can steal your cryptographic key (a number), I can write to the Bitcoin ledger "I Mubelotix give Buttons840 all my Bitcoin", and then it's done, the transaction is complete, it's written on the immutable public ledger with your own private key. If I can get your private key then I can take all your Bitcoin and you cannot stop me, nobody can, no court, no nation.
What I'm saying is that if a country did built up a world altering amount of Bitcoins, a James Bond 007 Super Secret Agent Man would come and steal the cryptographic key associated with your Bitcoins and as soon as they have that it's over, all your Bitcoin are gone.
Sure but it's easy to secure cryptophic keys. Way easier than securing 1000 moving tons of gold
Is it? Like, when any one of the people with access to the key has a standing offer of 1 billion dollars and a life a luxury in another country, are you sure none of them will take the offer? What about when their families are threatened? What about when they get kidnapped and hit with a wrench?
I'm just saying, if we're talking about so much Bitcoin that it alone makes a country a world power, that's enough Bitcoin that things have moved beyond law and order and is in the ugly and dangerous realm of war and espionage.
That's why we have multisig and timelocks. Bitcoin doesn't lack any security feature tbh
I'm not familiar with those, I'll do some research. How would you explain what those are?