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Comment by deepsun | Hacker News Reader

Should I expect price drop once feds start to sell it? Or they'll just destroy the keys (keeping the money invested forever).

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According to the article it’s up to a judge on how the funds are dispersed. It seems to lean towards the bitcoin being returned to their rightful owners.

It worked out well for the owners assuming it is returned.

Previously seized coins have been sold in off-chain auctions, same mechanism as other seized goods.

Since these have a known rightful owner, though, they may just be returned.

Those were dark money used in crime. These havent been used in crime, yet.

Does bitfinex still have the original owners data?

I'd actually really like if they used this opportunity to drive the Bitcoin price straight into the ground, thereby ruining that market for all those speculative investors.

Maybe that'd allow for something of a reboot of the ecosystem having eliminated the scum that usually starts to invade any remotely financially exploitable system after a while.

It will probably be returned to Bitfinex if they can access the wallet.

That's assuming the feds don't have unfinished business with Bitfinex. They're not exactly on great terms.

That's just nitpicking. If Bitfinex is acting as a custodian, the property will be returned to the owners. Whether that return happens via Bitfinex or via the feds looking at Bitfinex's books doesn't really change much. The point is that the feds can't destroy property just because they don't like who it was stolen from.

The feds have no problem seizing and liquidating property. They do it all the time. They even recruit local law enforcement to do it for them. See "equitable sharing"

That's if the property was purchased using money obtained from selling illegal goods or services. If the property doesn't belong to the criminal, it's an entirely different situation.

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