I find it amusing how all the news reports gloss over the fact that the FBI somehow got access to the wallet’s private key.
I’m also wondering why the hackers didn’t request payment in a currency that’s more difficult to trace.
I’m also wondering why the hackers didn’t request payment in a currency that’s more difficult to trace.
As soon as the ransom payment was transacted, the whole world could watch the chain and see the next step in its travel.
(but really the FBI since the Bank Secrecy Act and before)
As for anonymity on the receiving end: the BTC can always just be exchanged for a more anonymous currency like Monero. You might think that'd require the criminal to KYC to a [centralized] exchange, but there are decentralized exchanges (i.e. DEXes — on-chain, crypto-for-crypto exchanges with no support for fiat deposit/withdrawal), and these have no need for KYC, since they don't touch the real banking system.
Any service that takes deposits or processes payments in certain countries is required to follow those countries' KYC/AML regulations.
The actual AML laws are mostly about noticing when a given person has processed $10k or more through your service in a single day. But note that that's "person", not "account." You have to de-anonymize your accounts, in order to associate them with people, in order to obey the law.
The conventional KYC "compliance" measures — gathering ID documents et al — are actually not part of the law itself, but rather are industry best-practices for following the AML laws. The KYC process gives service-providers the information needed to restrict each person to having only a single account; and therefore allow service-providers to treat each account as a person under the letter of the AML laws.
We are just supposed to take the FBI on their word? There is a huge motivation for them to lie about seizing the BTC, in an effort to discourage other copycat crypto criminals.
Because they need to cash out somehow? Being crypto-currency rich doesn't mean much if you're unable to exchange the crypto-currency for real money.
People are content with crypto
They can invest, buy computer games, hardware and acquire general goods and services
There is no “I want to buy this flashy house/yacht how do I get crypto out”
Its easy to launder and easy to use without doing so, but also easy to launder whenever they get around to it
These guys didnt
1) These arent problems for ransomware hackers because they arent goals for ransomware hackers
2) even if these were goals for ransomware hackers these aren't problems either
It requires a special hubris to really think people that earn crypto want fiat. Just like people assume people that use Monero want clean bitcoin, its an absurdity that doesnt even consider that many just want and keep Monero. Its the same for fiat.
You would be more interested in discussing number 2 because I still say converting illicit funds to fiat isnt an unsolved or even difficult problem. But its so low on the list of priorities for this user story that its not really worth splitting hairs over. Ransomware hackers dont have an issue exchanging time for food and shelter, they are able to just accumulate and play in the crypto ecosystem which is what they really want to do already, with more. To many, its like someone stealing gold bars. Sure you go melt down an ingot or two eventually, but you’re really just hoarding the gold the sake of hoarding the gold. Crypto has the additional benefit of being internationally liquid for other digital assets and digital services instantly.
This of course makes your legal actions indistinguishable from hackers laundering their own crypto, shifting the methods away from probable cause to completely benign