BitFury to partner with law enforcements agencies globally

[pawel7777]

https://news.bitcoin.com/bitfury-blockchain-operation/

“We plan to partner with law enforcement agencies globally, just as we have in the U.S. through the Blockchain Alliance, a public-private forum formed by the Bitcoin community to help combat criminal activity involving Bitcoin and the blockchain,” Vavilov said.

Related discussion:

https://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/4gzqlo/the_bitfury_group_announces_expansion_to_full/

Time to wave goodbye to fungibility?

[Soros Shorts]

"Those who would give up essential Fungibility, to purchase a little temporary Price Increase, deserve neither Fungibility nor Price Increase."

[calkob]

"Those who would give up essential Fungibility, to purchase a little temporary Price Increase, deserve neither Fungibility nor Price Increase."

Great quote i like it.....lol 

[Carlton Banks]

If BitFury demeaned the fungibility of Bitcoin transactions they process in their mines, then any tainted coins going through a given individuals hands will simply not get confirmed through BitFury, but by someone else. Pre-halving isn't such a great time to announce to your investors that you are about to seriously inhibit your main market for future growth: fees.

[Divinespark]

BitFury are also eyeing the devices game a la 21. That means they know they need to cosy up to multiple govts especially the US.

[RealBitcoin]

"Those who would give up essential Fungibility, to purchase a little temporary Price Increase, deserve neither Fungibility nor Price Increase."

They only have 8% mining power, but i agree this is concerning.

Fungibility is critical, and they wont use this to catch criminals, but to undermine bitcoins stability.

I hope the bitcoin developers can help us make bitcoin really fungible!

[MingLee]

"Those who would give up essential Fungibility, to purchase a little temporary Price Increase, deserve neither Fungibility nor Price Increase."

They only have 8% mining power, but i agree this is concerning.

Fungibility is critical, and they wont use this to catch criminals, but to undermine bitcoins stability.

I hope the bitcoin developers can help us make bitcoin really fungible!

If there could be more people working on fungibility instead of caring so much about Core v Classic drama, stuff like this could be avoided.

BitFury is doing whatever it takes to make the most money, and this will likely have negative consequences in the future, either for Bitcoin or BitFury.

[Lauda]

This is definitely not something that should be welcomed.

"Those who would give up essential Fungibility, to purchase a little temporary Price Increase, deserve neither Fungibility nor Price Increase."

The quote can be altered for any features that Bitcoin currently possesses (e.g. decentralization).

Fungibility is critical, and they wont use this to catch criminals, but to undermine bitcoins stability.
I hope the bitcoin developers can help us make bitcoin really fungible!

I concur. This will most likely be improved in the future.

If there could be more people working on fungibility instead of caring so much about Core v Classic drama, stuff like this could be avoided.

The blame goes to the people who wasted everyone's time trying to take over with a controversial HF.

[Ultrafinery]

BitFury is doing whatever it takes to make the most money, and this will likely have negative consequences in the future, either for Bitcoin or BitFury.

We should crowdfund our own mining farm, that doesn't kowtow to jackboots, maybe with Etherium smart contracts sold on OpenBazaar? Maybe call it Cloudmine?
Then we'd be free to ride our machines without getting hassled by The Man!

[dumbfbrankings]

If BitFury demeaned the fungibility of Bitcoin transactions they process in their mines, then any tainted coins going through a given individuals hands will simply not get confirmed through BitFury, but by someone else. Pre-halving isn't such a great time to announce to your investors that you are about to seriously inhibit your main market for future growth: fees.

I wouldn't worry about Bitfury and BTCC. They are the most supportive miners of the Core Team Vision.

Their main market for future growth: fees, will grow exponentially once the transaction volume is moved from a P2P on-chain model to the KYC'd lightning hub model. The decentralised production quota of 1.7MB (with april segwit) worth of tx means fee income can only rise as more users flock to the most economical decentralised settlement system available.

These are astute business men, they wear Armani Exchange ball caps and t-shirts. To new horizons!

[cjmoles]

If the cops are going to start messing with bitcoin, maybe it's time to get out and let them have it.  Let BitFury handle all the governmental bitcoin transactions while we move to a more decentralized, fungible, anonymous, freer, type of blockchain....KYC?  All they need to know about me is written right here on my middle finger....maybe they need to take a closer look....there's my doc's sir!  Now you know me!

[owm123]

Its another part of bitcoin blockchain analysis. You already have a number of companies aiming at monitoring bitcoiners transactions, just to name a few:

https://www.elliptic.co/
http://www.coinalytics.co/
http://sabr.io/

and off course recently Homeland security:

- http://bitcoinx.io/news/articles/homeland-security-reveals-task-force-to-identify-unlicensed-bitcoin-exchangers/

Bitfury is not the first one, nor the last one in this area.

[alyssa85]

Its another part of bitcoin blockchain analysis. You already have a number of companies aiming at monitoring bitcoiners transactions, just to name a few:

https://www.elliptic.co/
http://www.coinalytics.co/
http://sabr.io/

and off course recently Homeland security:

- http://bitcoinx.io/news/articles/homeland-security-reveals-task-force-to-identify-unlicensed-bitcoin-exchangers/

Bitfury is not the first one, nor the last one in this area.

Yup. Your signature is on point - bitcoin is not anonymous, it is pseudonymous.

[Snail2]

It would be a nice feature for bitcoin if I could choose who should process my transactions. That would give us full financial freedom and that would be the end for BitFury like "traitors".

[ArticMine]

If the cops are going to start messing with bitcoin, maybe it's time to get out and let them have it.  Let BitFury handle all the governmental bitcoin transactions while we move to a more decentralized, fungible, anonymous, freer, type of blockchain....KYC?  All they need to know about me is written right here on my middle finger....maybe they need to take a closer look....there's my doc's sir!  Now you know me!

Law enforcement is the least problem here; however it does make for a good excuse. The real threat to fungibility will come from private commercial interests who will want you to only spend your Bitcoins in a way the profits them. The real solution is a decentralized, fungible, anonymous, freer, type of blockchain where privacy and fungibility are not optional. Furthermore this blockchain must also be able to scale with market demand. the latter means an adaptive blocksize limit on the main chain.

Does such a blockchain exist today? The answer is yes; however the question of the specific blockchain becomes a topic for the alt-coin section.

[cjmoles]

If the cops are going to start messing with bitcoin, maybe it's time to get out and let them have it.  Let BitFury handle all the governmental bitcoin transactions while we move to a more decentralized, fungible, anonymous, freer, type of blockchain....KYC?  All they need to know about me is written right here on my middle finger....maybe they need to take a closer look....there's my doc's sir!  Now you know me!

Law enforcement is the least problem here; however it does make for a good excuse. The real threat to fungibility will come from private commercial interests who will want you to only spend your Bitcoins in a way the profits them. The real solution is a decentralized, fungible, anonymous, freer, type of blockchain where privacy and fungibility are not optional. Furthermore this blockchain must also be able to scale with market demand. the latter means an adaptive blocksize limit on the main chain.

Does such a blockchain exist today? The answer is yes; however the question of the specific blockchain becomes a topic for the alt-coin section.

These type of things bug the hell out of me.  I mean, they're almost antibitcoin measures...I've pretty much been submerging myself into alternative banking solutions lately.  I just despise the direction that our beloved blockchain is headed.  I only hope that there'll be a resistance to regulatory interference soon.  The only problems with other blockchains is that they're still tied to bitcoin in one form or another....we still have to go thru the conventional gateways to remain liquid.

[finkelsteinMonster]

It would be a nice feature for bitcoin if I could choose who should process my transactions. That would give us full financial freedom and that would be the end for BitFury like "traitors".

That's probably fine with them, tx fees account for what, 1% of an average block reward? If they lose .001% of that 1%, they'll be fine. 'Sides, you sound like you mostly hodl your coin anyway

... I just despise the direction that our beloved blockchain is headed. ...

Just what I was thinking more than 3 years ago

VV  funny how ideologies go out the window when money comes in.    ...owait, Bitcoin *is* money! No wonder!  VV

[West man]

To hell with BitFury 
Joining with the man. Keep bitcoin's Fungibility 

[owm123]

If the cops are going to start messing with bitcoin, maybe it's time to get out and let them have it.  Let BitFury handle all the governmental bitcoin transactions while we move to a more decentralized, fungible, anonymous, freer, type of blockchain....KYC?  All they need to know about me is written right here on my middle finger....maybe they need to take a closer look....there's my doc's sir!  Now you know me!

Law enforcement is the least problem here; however it does make for a good excuse. The real threat to fungibility will come from private commercial interests who will want you to only spend your Bitcoins in a way the profits them. The real solution is a decentralized, fungible, anonymous, freer, type of blockchain where privacy and fungibility are not optional. Furthermore this blockchain must also be able to scale with market demand. the latter means an adaptive blocksize limit on the main chain.

Does such a blockchain exist today? The answer is yes; however the question of the specific blockchain becomes a topic for the alt-coin section.

These type of things bug the hell out of me.  I mean, they're almost antibitcoin measures...I've pretty much been submerging myself into alternative banking solutions lately.  I just despise the direction that our beloved blockchain is headed.  I only hope that there'll be a resistance to regulatory interference soon.  The only problems with other blockchains is that they're still tied to bitcoin in one form or another....we still have to go thru the conventional gateways to remain liquid.

I dont think is antibitcoin. Its just natural consequence of bitcoin's pseduanonymity. All transactions are public, everyone can trace them, and as a bitcoinner you have to accept the consequences of this fact.  The blockchain analytics is one problem, but blacklisting is bigger in my view. You already have cases of some bitcoins being blacklisted, e.g.,

- https://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/3mea6b/bitpay_is_blacklisting_certain_bitcoins_rejecting/

[ArticMine]

...
These type of things bug the hell out of me.  I mean, they're almost antibitcoin measures...I've pretty much been submerging myself into alternative banking solutions lately.  I just despise the direction that our beloved blockchain is headed.  I only hope that there'll be a resistance to regulatory interference soon.  The only problems with other blockchains is that they're still tied to bitcoin in one form or another....we still have to go thru the conventional gateways to remain liquid.

They are anti-bitcoin measures and are driven by private companies that see destroying Bitcoin fungibility as the way to short term profits. In many ways these companies are like a parasite that eventually kills its host. The fact that this is possible is due to more than one design flaw in Bitcoin, and could lead to Bitcoin's demise much like a host that is vulnerable to parasites.

Edit: Coin blacklisting is only possible in Bitcoin because of blockchain analytics.