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Evolution Market's Admins Are Gone, Along With $12M In Bitcoin
tsu doh nimh writes: The Evolution Market, an online black market that sells everything contraband — from marijuana, heroin and ecstasy to stolen identities and malicious hacking services — appears to have vanished in the last 24 hours with little warning. Much to the chagrin of countless merchants hawking their wares in the underground market, the curators of the project have reportedly absconded with the community's bitcoins — a stash that some Evolution merchants reckon is worth more than USD $12 million.
Don't worry, the invisible hand will soon make an invisible punishment for those responsible.
I think I'm going to have a heart attack and DIE from that surprise.
"File to fit, pound to insert, paint to match" - Aircraft Maintenance 101
I'm shocked!
XML is a known as a key material required to create SMD: Software of Mass Destruction
... there is no honor among thieves.
People dealing in illegal goods on a site that specialized in black market goods were trusting a 3rd party to hang on to all of their money?
I'm a good cook. I'm a fantastic eater. - Steven Brust
The people who run a black market are dishonest? I'm shocked, shocked!
You get up with fleas
It's no longer funny, it's hilarious. It's hilarious that people still trust an untraceable, pseudoanonymous bit of data that's worth real money to organizations that have no bigger entity breathing down their necks.
I have no love for big banks, but at least in the United States, the FDIC and NCUA do a good job of regulating the banks and credit unions such that the bank cannot simply steal your money wholesale and get away with it.
Do not look into laser with remaining eye.
... I'm off to set up a new marketplace on Tor. Apparently, criminals are really gullible AND use untraceable money! What a great combination :)
Therefore, by the (faulty) logic you're using, you're just a cow with a keyboard - osu-neko (2604)
Well, this is why you should keep your own bitcoin wallet. Bitcoin theft isn't a problem with bitcoin itself. It's a problem with where you're keeping your bitcoins.
We don't have a state-run media we have a media-run state.
Look at it from the point of view of the people running these markets. They have a finite amount of time before the FBI or the NSA crack them like pistachios. The longer they operate the more people will learn who they are. So unless the illegal market is so insanely profitable for them that they can buy sanctuary someplace where the long arm of the law wont reach, betraying the people using the market is just optimal strategy.
I think a lot of these problems are that it was an illegal market with people probably using a properly secured TOR connection so that they couldn't be traced. They got bored of what they were doing and said "HOLY SHIT, there's 12 million here, untraceable" so instead of the normal walk away, they took the money and walked away. You are going to run into this in any illegal venture, with untraceable currency, where the operator is unknown. Anyone shocked by this needs to give their head a shake. Don't drop a crap ton of money, to someone you don't know, who has no real incentive to help you out. You don't even need a regulatory body, just someone you can hold accountable. You are never going to get someone to hold accountable in a market like that because, well they will be held legally accountable as well.
Hilarious indeed.
None of the people who actually use the black markets are surprised. It's a gamble; 9/10 times I get military grade shit, 1/10 i lose money. To me it's acceptable. Nobody points a gun at my head on the Internets, only a bunch of dickheads at Slashdot that think we are all gullible. Clueless...
Because bitcoin is secure against government seizure, and it's secure against theft. That is, barring the idiocy of letting someone hold your coins for you. However, I expect these same folks fall prey to wallet inspectors.
Because bitcoin is secure against local fiat hyperinflation. Bitcoin, over the past few months, has actually been more stable than my home currency ($CDN), which has lost 30% of its value in that time.
Because I can bring more than $10,000 of bitcoin into any country I like without needing to fill out forms or risk the government taking a cut of it if I forget.
Because microtransactions are cheap, and big transactions are also cheap.
Because it works just like cash. As a merchant, when you have your bitcoin, Visa won't call you next week and take the money from your account because the payment turned out to be fake. That can never happen with bitcoin.
Because I'm tired of carrying a pocketful of change to put in vending machines, and a walletful of paper bills to pay for things. I'm equally tired of giving the debit company a major cut of every small purchase every time I decide I don't want to do this, or a credit company a major cut of every large purchase.
But yes, one of the big reasons is fuck government, nobody wants to have their money seized because they are rich enough to afford a large cash holiday. But the bigger reason is to have a currency that you can treat like cash, that is secure like cash, but can work on the internet, just like cash.
And, just like cash, when your money is stolen because you left it out in the open, nobody is going to cry for you. Life sucks, move on.
What I don't get is why people blame bitcoin. Did you blame the insecurity of the US dollar when Bernie Madoff conned people out of $65B. Yeah, that's right, $65 BILLION, not $12 million.
Users are not gullible if they realize there is a risk of losing their money, and assess that their profit is worth this risk, as AC explained above.
Trade illegal black market items with cash transactions out of a trunk is also risky, and doing it with paypal or credit card can be traced by the authorities. Using bitcoin may still be the most prudent choice, even if it means that there's a chance you'll lose some of your money.
Fortunately, bitcoin allows multi-signature escrow. That permits the escrow service to decide who gets the bitcoins (buyer or seller), but doesn't let them run off with them. It's not perfect, as it can't prevent collusion between escrow agent and either party against the other party, but it does prevent the simpler forms of "just run off with the money". Why it isn't in more widespread use yet, I have no idea.