Bitcoin Forum

As we know in Nigeria our country the governments are fond of looting public funds into various personal accounts.and it's no longer a new thing that some government officials are busted sometimes of which millions or billions of naira are found in secrets places in their homes and then they create lies about how  they use the recoverd funds to solve problems in the country.
    what if they actually adopt to using Bitcoin or cryptocurrency as a new means of stealing and hiding money. do you think that they would be caught in this act due to the decentralized system of Bitcoin?
( this is just a taught) ???

(Edited) title as suggested by Charles-Tim

Politicians in Nigeria are smart for the wrong reasons so I have no doubt they can use Bitcoin as a means of consuming our national cake. From what I have read about Bitcoin, it is truly a good opportunity for them. 

Unlike our traditional means of banking where government has control over the banking sector and could know how much it citizen has in their local & domiciliary bank account just within a twinkle of an eye if a politician happens to steal funds and hides them in Bitcoin, I bet you it is very hard for them recover such fund, but only if he do not leave such huge funds on an exchange wallet or buy such using a centralized exchange where Kyc is needed such as Binance or Coinbase.
But if they could buy it while using a decentralized exchange like "Bisq" and store the funds in a hardware wallet, I bet you nobody can discover they have such an amount in Bitcoin.

They have been using the fiat system and the larger money you still in Nigeria the higher the chances of you getting away with it, I think you are putting your question in a way that says Bitcoin would enhance the government looting and embezzling active when this actives has been going on for a very long time now

Further more they may have already adopted the means of using Bitcoin and what ever purpose you use Bitcoin for should not mean Bitcoin serves a negative purpose nor should be blamed solely.

We have both smart politicians and intellectual citizens, they always provide plan B for every plans the government enacted to restrict the use of bitcoin. Binance and cryptocurrency banned in Nigeria, but the citizens looked for a way to participate in cryptocurrency, that's the existence of P2P which served a crucial contribution and function for nigerians. The government know every single detail of cryptocurrency, they have it stores in their heavy gigantic portfolio but they denied the common Nigerians to invest. Nigerian politicians are corrupt and they embezzled national finance inother to satisfied their selfish desires. We know them and I'm getting use to their operation.

Naija na very corrupt country, so your politicians no even need to put too much effort to loot money and hide the trace, the system dey very corrupt, so e dey very easy for them to buy people over and close the mouths wey dem wan shut. Shay you know say Bitcoin blockchain dey transparent, so politicians no need something wey dem go fit use trace looted funds to them later, and the kind big funds wey dem dey steal go hard dem to sell am for some exchanges, dem go continue to dey use naira and hard currencies dey steal public funds.

Abeg Make dem no adopt bitcoin for the purpose of stealing our money oo. If them want adopt am make e be say na for the right purpose.


Wetin be the need say you catch thief and you no fit punish the thief... Even the Naira wey dem dey see themselves thief, how many of them dey prison. Them no even need to hide their stealing in bitcoin say dem want go adopt bitcoin unto say them want go dey hide money for there.

Abro Nigerian government never misused bitcoin na why titling it in this way. No have doubt, politicians dey invest in bitcoin now. Someone told me dat Dangote sef dey invest for bitcoin. But di thing be sae as a public figure, dem dey monitor your spending. So wen u keep moni or hide money for bitcoin u go still bring am out in di bull unless di person wan keep am there forever. Do you know dat dem dey hide money for dollar too but government still dey catch dem but since since crypto dey decentralized, e go dey hard for di government to find out.

Lolz.. But how sure are you say they never they do am? That is, I mean the intellectually educated once wey know small bit about tech and investing, because the truth be say if only they been fit create an enabling environment for everybody to dey use this crypto stuff freely and con regulate am wella, na still them the government for dey enjoy am base on small fees wey dey for dey charge, con use the money develop other sectors. Because for me I no dey against any politicians buying Bitcoin oh, but my problem be say make they try dey remember the people wey been vote them into that office and do the right thing to make life better for all.

Very possible that some among them might be caught. The more excellent the chain analytic company involved, the more possibilities that they might be caught. Some people at one point make some mistakes that can make them be known. Like the use of IP addresses to connect to the wallet. Many of them may not even be tech savvy or tech savvy enough. But as how Nigeria is for now, the chance that they can be caught is very low. Even very low is still an understatement to how they can not be caught.

I don't think they will ever be caught in such act OP, because those politicians stealing our money by using them to invest in BTC or crypto have boys who are professional in decentralized currency and they are not base in Nigeria, and no matter the tools EFCC and police department want to use to investigate their transaction they will never find any meaningful results. God has blessed our youths in terms of technology, just that our bad leaders in the country has pushed them into bad attitude in the country.

The thing be say,  the ops no really understand how corrupt politicians operate and their will not have time to pass through the process of buying bitcoin and doing all that KYC thing,  so for that they will tend to use their traditional means to launder the stolen money,  one of the major u traceable money laundering means is by using fiat paper money that way there won't be any trace.

But if their use Bitcoin and when they are under probe the Bitcoin can be traced by the government agency such as the EFCC.

Bitcoin dey decentralized but e still dey traceable, if the government ready to work dem go find any Bitcoin wey the government officials thief, those men no even dey Bitcoin educated so how Dem go know how to hide their stolen Bitcoin well. Even hackers wey good, FBI still dey find dem and recover some stolen funds. I believe say many of them go mumu go keep am for Binance exchange and na Cz himself go use him hand exposed them as him dey do so (if you dey follow him handle on twitter, you go see say him dey exposed scammers steadily wey dey run exchange with stolen founds through him exchange).

Unless those politicians go wise up to run their Bitcoin through Bitcoin mixers wey go make the tracking to hard the government when they dey track dem. But if those mixers dey keep record (as some mixers have done in the past) e go be piece of cake to still track dem. The federal government go just need work with FBI and the politicians will be caught but na Nigeria we dey and any small settlement everybody dun keep quiet like say nothing happened. Our judiciary system can't be trusted and so is our law enforced agencies. So before we start dey reason wetin no go get any head but we just know say if those agencies no dey work properly nothing we fit achieve.

My bros, even if dem no de tech savvy, dis corrupt people wey wan hide money for bitcoin go don reason all di possibilities wey EFCC or other anti crime agencies go take catch dem, and dem go wan try block all loopholes. Sodiafo with dem too much money, dem go fit find and recruit di best brains of corrupt tech savvy guys wey go de help dem to hide dem looted funds for secured accounts, weda na for fiat or cryptocurrencies. The way to catch dis criminals na if dem make simple mistakes for dem transactions.

Another worry be say corruption full our anti graft agencies, imagine di chairman of EFCC being  detained for di crimes wey dem de fight, and dis no be di first time wey dem de arrest di head of di criminal agency. So if di heads de corrupt, wetin go happen to di entire body? My opinion be say if dem catch and prosecute any criminal, make dem make sure say di full weight of di law go apply for di punishment. No be say tomorrow we go see say nothing happen to di person, and e go give upcoming corrupt officials di morale to steal plenty money, bribe dem way out of punishment and walk free.

@Hatchy
This has just come my mind. It would be better to change the topic title to 'misuse of Bitcoin by the Nigerian Government politicians'. Not the government, but the politicians that are in public office that you are referring to.

Africa is known for corruption and it is part of what that have caused setbacks for African countries.

Nigerian politicians are not as smart as we think they are. Do you think that the monies they have embezzled are not traceable? They are. They siphon it through their own companies, that of their relatives and with the help of other external bodies.  The security agencies know this but their hands are tied because their bosses are in bed with these politicians and any attempt to expose them will get them fired.

What pains me most about our security agencies is that they are not independent. Imagine politicians using EFCC, DSS, ICPC to harass anyone who steps on their toes? In the case of bitcoin, it is traceable. One thing we must know is that if these security agencies sit on your matter, they will dig out whatever bitcoin gotten through illicit and illegal means. Just a simple forensic auditing.

I don’t think they can be caught if they’re very smart about it which I know they are. If they use a centralised exchange to steal the funds into, they can easily be caught since those exchanges require KYC, but they could still probably use another persons account to avoid been suspicious.

Another way they can be caught even when they use a decentralised exchange is when they disclose their wallet address. Any funds that comes into such wallets can be noticed and traced to their accounts. But with the level of smartness by our politicians, they’ll still breach this and steal public funds without fear of being caught.

To me this Nigeria politicians fit keep money for anywhere and make we no forget say them dey travel go foreign . I know say the smart ones already don invest on bitcoin since,to understand how bitcoin dey work na small thing. To trace how money carry loss for Nigeria easy but who go win do am when corruption don eat up everybody. The only time wey government dey catch thief na when the thief dey opposition party or the thief go against their order,if not every politician dey cover any thief so that make him get he own share or so that when him own cast make them cover am. Ordinary Fiat government no fit trace we dey centralized na bitcoin dem go come trace. If politicians fit dey buy dollar dey hoard for house na bitcoin go come be problem for them to buy hoard for wallet.

I dey see as most people dey talk say Bitcoin is decentralized but traceable. That one dey mostly happens to people wey dey doxx themselves. If someone creates a new Bitcoin wallet and then them no ever post the address on any online storage or public discourse or forum, then the possibility of them even tracing it back to me is slim especially if the person doesn't use fiat gateways provided by centralized services or exchange wey them need to doxx themselves and provide KYC before they can transact. All the sleuth activities we dey do, unto say connections already dey.

Bitcoin and crypto na perfect gateways if they use am, that is a possibility. The fact that they fit hide naira and we don't know is proof enough. What if them use Bitcoin which adds extra layer of privacy be default?

Na better water wey you still pure on top the conversation wey dey go on here. Regards to the full weight of the law, hmmm me I never know whether Nigeria don reach dat level to follow the law to the fullest oo. We don see many politicians wey been dey serve for prison wey dem later release becos one God father dey one place dey press button for him head. The efcc chaimo and Emefiele own go still die like that. We need institutions wey dey independent of government then we fit dey get things right.

Nigerian politicians are stealing the country's money and turning it into Bitcoin, a cryptocurrency, in the face of the law. Corrupt leaders steal the money in such a way that na one knows about it and they trade the money in bitcoins. Bitcoin transactions were initiated to launder the stolen funds so that their misdeeds would not be exposed locally. But I think if a proper legal investigation properly identifies Bitcoin transactions by government officials then maybe their misdeeds will come to light.

My take on this issues is that no matter how they tried to hide bio or mio in their wallet through bitcoin one day it will still reveal itself that they are looting funds. We know that is a decentralized platform whereby we can't trace or track them so they must sign up in exchange to buy it them selves but through their kyc exchanger may still know that a prominent politicians owns such amount in their account. And even if they thought of buying it through p2p there are some fellow youths who would still come reveal about their transaction with such politicians. Currently I know that youths are angry and if they discovered such thing they will raise alarm to Nigerians how politicians are using our money to buy bitcoin in other for them to loot.

One of the major reasons why most countries government are having missfeelings about Bitcoin is due to the possibility of the politicians using Bitcoin to melt away national wealth,  but not knowing that politicians have employed a lot of alternative ways to steal money without traces aside from using bitcoin since it can still be traceable to them.

More also you are right that the decentralized nature of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies that we have around have made privacy really achieved for some limits and most of the corrupt politicians are aware of that and they are holding huge amount in both Bitcoin and other coins,  I remember when cryptocurrency was first attacked in Nigeria,  we had a lot of politicians with cryptocurrency trading apps on the mobile devices so it shows that they already know what the new development really is.

My opinion is a bit different from others view. That they can not be caught is far from the truth if justice is to prevail. Before fiat is converted to bitcoins , the fiat goes from an account to an exchange or to a Decentralized exchange as the case maybe. If so, the traces of money  entering an account and the vanishing into the air can be questionable which provides a legal ground for such perpetrator to be sued.  Which ever way the user follow to loot money, there will definitely be traces to an account.
 If it happens that, the Bitcoin purchased is carried out via government account, then the staffs are questionable.

I do not think anyone can steal public funds as easy as that without any traces if properly monitored.