
How to Lose $3B of Bitcoin in India - walterbell
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-08-09/cryptokidnapping-or-how-to-lose-3-billion-of-bitcoin-in-india
======
CamelCaseName
From the article, it seems like I didn't really understand the implications of
Modi's actions to invalidate so much hard currency.

Could someone familiar with the matter talk more about what the days/weeks
following Modi's announcement looked like for the every day Indian?

~~~
agorabinary
Yes, as a Westerner I hadn't even heard of this massive invalidation of 86% of
India's cash currency.

Pretty dramatic, certainly could have helped the massive crypto price run-up
in late 2017. Also helps to demonstrate the value of a currency that can't be
manipulated by state actors.

~~~
atomical
The issue is that non-state actors were hiding money to avoid taxes. I
wouldn't label prevention of theft as manipulation.

~~~
agorabinary
> prevention of theft

Taxation is theft.

~~~
orf
Except that, you know, it's not.

And I'm not sure that your comment adds anything to the discussion here, I
would consider elaborating on why you think you should not have to pay taxes
after being able to generate wealth using public infrastructure as a
foundation.

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onetimemanytime
They can't even complain...like calling the cops because someone robbed your
cocaine stash*

(* for those that didn't read the article: India banned large bills, say,
their $100 bills. People had x months to turn it in to exchange with smaller
bills. But you had to explain how you got that much money and why didn't
declare it to the taxman. So quite a few turned to Bitcoin etc.)

~~~
jarfil
You can't con a honest man, but a greedy man... that's easy.

~~~
joemag
I’m perplexed by the use of “honest” and “greedy” as the opposites...

~~~
praneshp
I read that as tangents, not opposites

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ddorian43
Everyone should watch the bitconnect crazy guy high on pyramid scheme
premises:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=21kGmCsJ5ZM](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=21kGmCsJ5ZM)

~~~
joering2
Seen this so many times already. Would rather like to know what is he doing
these days and see his latest video - if he has any courage to record one.
When bubble burst, scam artists usually vanish.

~~~
Pada
He is fasting. [https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCFvRE5ilWN-
onFmPjKoY03g](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCFvRE5ilWN-onFmPjKoY03g)

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DINKDINK
Shouldn't the headline read Bitconnect not bitcoin?

~~~
Buge
I'm not sure if either is appropriate. Bitconnect is worth nothing, so no
matter how many bitconnect coins were lost, they would be worth $0 not $3B.

The title seems almost unrelated to the article. The title refers to money
lost in the bitconnect ponzi scheme, but the article is mostly about
kidnapping schemes worth much less money, and that demanded payment in
bitcoins.

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yakarteek
‪Bitcoin is not a legally recognized currency in India. So, it remains to be
seen what’s gonna happen.‬

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trumped
loosing bitcoins is really easy when most people don't eveb know that sharing
everything with the cloud is very risky

~~~
kbad1000
Yes, that is how Ian Balina lost $2 million.

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nerdponx
Non-AMP version:
[https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-08-09/cryptokid...](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-08-09/cryptokidnapping-
or-how-to-lose-3-billion-of-bitcoin-in-india)

~~~
simias
Thank you, the AMP version was horrible on desktop.

~~~
creato
My experience is:

AMP version: a bit funny looking (big pictures, full width layout rendering),
but otherwise very simple and clean, just text and pictures. The only real
issue is the pictures are _big_ , but that's kind of nice in its own way.

Non-AMP version: slow to load, janky video loading that moves the text around
while I'm trying to read it, janky side bar menus that jerk as I scroll, the
actual article only occupies the middle 1/4-1/3 of the layout.

I'll take the AMP version, thanks.

~~~
OJFord
My experience is:

AMP version: not loading, I assumed due to blocked JS, but I just went back to
check, and oh it finally loaded.. so maybe it eventually falls back with my
first-party-only JS policy.

Non-AMP version: immediate load, perfectly readable, refreshed with _no_ JS
(not even first-party) and it's imperceptibly fast. (Reloaded the AMP version
again with no JS just to check, and of course - without the JS to say: Hey,
after a timeout, if AMP JS hasn't loaded, fall back on standard - it doesn't
load at all. Great.)

Edit: actually, it did, eventually (not sure how that works then) but with no
images and full-width text. I'll take AMPless any day.

~~~
slig
> AMP version: not loading, I assumed due to blocked JS, but I just went back
> to check, and oh it finally loaded.. so maybe it eventually falls back with
> my first-party-only JS policy.

Looks like the culprit is this piece of code:

    
    
        body {
            animation:-amp-start 8s steps(1,end) 0s 1 normal both}
            @keyframes -amp-start{from{visibility:hidden}to{visibility:visible}
        }
    

Why they purposely degrade the experience is beyond me.

~~~
1996
Because they can. A advertising company punishes people who run adblockers,
nothing surprising

~~~
OJFord
I'm blocking third-party JS, not specifically ads.

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1996
Who knew that crypto and the internet could be used for illegal purposes and
pyramid schemes, unlike cash and enveloppes?

