If the FBI wallet with 141,000 bitcoins was stolen what would happen? :o

[sunofnight]

There are thousands of bitcoins in the hands of the FBI, how they securely store bitcoin?

At the current price it's worth more than 7 billion dollars!!  

If the FBI wallet with 141,000 bitcoins was stolen what do you think would happen with the bitcoin price?

https://www.blockchain.com/btc/address/35hK24tcLEWcgNA4JxpvbkNkoAcDGqQPsP

[Hamphser]

There are thousands of bitcoins in the hands of the FBI, how they securely store bitcoin? And what types of employees are able to access it?

At the current price it's worth more than 7 billion dollars!!  

If the FBI wallet with 141,000 bitcoins was stolen what do you think would happen with the bitcoin price?

https://www.blockchain.com/btc/address/35hK24tcLEWcgNA4JxpvbkNkoAcDGqQPsP

No one knows on whose the one do have the access to those coins but since those coins or wallet is on a public sight then it would most likely to make those shady movement of coins or else they would
really be making out some issues.

Asking on what would happen if those coins would be sell off? Then we would really be seeing some serious correction in price but it wont really be enough on driving the price down to the
floor considering the overall amount or cap with bitcoin alone then that amount is just small.

I doubt for them to make such step.They would really be facing up lots of questions and further problems.

[Baofeng]

Obviously, if someone attempted to steal al those bitcoin and deposit it to an exchange then it will have impact on the price and could trigger a panic. But would you think the thief will be successful on cashing it out? Nah, I don't think so, you will be stupid to not think about the consequences of your actions here.

[Twentyonepaylots]

That huge of an amount isn't easily converted into cash unless the hacker deliberately chose to be apprehended, which is weird. If a price decline were to occur because of the selling of the supposed bitcoins that in this situation is stolen, it would be gradual and may even be resisted by the strong price resistance bitcoin has right now.

[2double0]

Obviously, if someone attempted to steal al those bitcoin and deposit it to an exchange then it will have impact on the price and could trigger a panic. But would you think the thief will be successful on cashing it out? Nah, I don't think so, you will be stupid to not think about the consequences of your actions here.

Exchanges work as a masterpiece these days and do you really think that Exchanges will allow such big values of btc on their portal to serve a bloodbath show before knowing who brought those coins and where did they bring it from? A hacker is not a fool to take his coins to an exchange and get caught, all hackers go for mixing services and then sell their coins via OTC.

[GreatArkansas]

141,000 Bitcoins are quite a huge amount.
Let's say those Bitcoin will get hacked and being sold randomly. If those Bitcoin will be sold separately order in every small amount, or they will be a move to different wallets in small amounts, it will probably not create panic or effect on the price at all.
But if FBI claims and make public that those Bitcoins got hacked, then probably we will see an effect.

[ReiMomo]

The 141,000 bitcoin is quite a huge amount and I guess the government will sell this and add to their funding process. It is a fund where that budget resolution comes from. It is a big help to the country's improvement. Just like the need for our government employees such as squad cars, jails, military equipment, weapon, and even medical supply.

It belongs to the forfeited fund and should be used by the government's needs and improvement.

[hulla]

There are thousands of bitcoins in the hands of the FBI, how they securely store bitcoin? And what types of employees are able to access it?

At the current price it's worth more than 7 billion dollars!!  

No one outside their cartel will how they store the BTC or the employee that have access to it but why asking this question?

If the FBI wallet with 141,000 bitcoins was stolen what do you think would happen with the bitcoin price?

https://www.blockchain.com/btc/address/35hK24tcLEWcgNA4JxpvbkNkoAcDGqQPsP

The wallet precisely it was 141451.596 BTC not 141,000BTC and the last time I read about the FBI holding they was planning to sell the BTC which I thought they have until now but looking at the wallet transaction they have already sold some part of the BTC.
Having said that, if the BTC inside the wallet was stolen, it will affect the BTC market price and will lead to possibly market blood bath but I don't see it happening.

[ecnalubma]

I will not be worried if someone manages to steal their holdings, because once the hacker or rogue employee sold the Bitcoins in market it could affect the price much but expect a bounce in short time due to high demand from different institutions. But probably they wouldn’t sell it easily like that knowing that their wallet is under extreme monitoring, they might sell it portion by portion anonymously.

[Darker45]

There are thousands of bitcoins in the hands of the FBI, how they securely store bitcoin?

https://www.blockchain.com/btc/address/35hK24tcLEWcgNA4JxpvbkNkoAcDGqQPsP

How do you know this is FBI's wallet?

If the FBI wallet with 141,000 bitcoins was stolen what do you think would happen with the bitcoin price?

The price of Bitcoin does not respond to the stealing itself. However, if the stolen Bitcoin is dumped into the market all at once, there will certainly be a decrease in price considering that it amounts to billions. But all that is temporary. Sooner, the supply in the market would shrink once more and the price would then increase.

But why would a brilliant thief choose to steal FBI's BTC? Man, that's billions. They wouldn't just sit on it. The FBI has the expertise in terms of investigation. And it is a dirty agency. Before you will enjoy your billions you are already liquidated.

[meanwords]

I don't even think it'll even reach any exchange except decentralized ones. Most likely they would announce or report to everyone that someone stole their BTC and most likely exchanges will get notified on the wallet of the hackers. Centralized exchanges mostly holds the majority of the market so I think those Bitcoin will only get few million dollars and some would get stuck.

But of course there's going to be FUD all around the news so it would artificially affect Bitcoin because of panic.

[cabron]

It's going to be pointless stealing since the address is probably watched closely. The FBI did an auction to Ross wallet, I guess one day they will also be auctioning it, it will be a huge profit for the government or they could use it as a stimulus that they won't have to print.

I don't even think it'll even reach any exchange except decentralized ones. Most likely they would announce or report to everyone that someone stole their BTC and most likely exchanges will get notified on the wallet of the hackers. Centralized exchanges mostly holds the majority of the market so I think those Bitcoin will only get few million dollars and some would get stuck.

But of course there's going to be FUD all around the news so it would artificially affect Bitcoin because of panic.

FBI will be investigated if they lose this amount. I have no idea what organization will investigate them but surely the issue won't just slide.

[dansus021]

if the coin stolen by FBI employee it will make them rich 
In my opinion if the FBI have big amount maybe the board will discuss if they can used it or not but as you might know the bitcoin will dumped if they sell all of it

from where they get those amount of bitcoin?

[Kong Hey Pakboy]

As far as I know, some of those bitcoins that the FBI seized are auctioned or are still kept in as an evidence or something. I believe that if it were ever stolen, the thief needs to be at the least good at hiding because FBI has the resources to find their target and if the upper echelons believe that it is worth pursuing, they can pour a lot of resources into it. Not to mention that FBI might have already put some sort of tracking on the bitcoin and can flag them whenever there is a transfer. FBI is not something you should mess with, the order of fear that everyone should have is fear for God and then the fear for FBI then CIA.

[sujon5]

I don't think the FBI uses a single wallet to store all coins. And even if the device is stolen, it isn't to easy to get an access to it.

[ene1980]

There are thousands of bitcoins in the hands of the FBI, how they securely store bitcoin?
At the current price it's worth more than 7 billion dollars!!  

Not sure whether the wallet belongs to the government or the FBI and the coins they confiscated were auctioned off from what i know and they will not be holding the coins and expect to profit at a later time and i looked at the wallet you posted and it was actively sending coins this month and i have seen similar sent addresses in one of math puzzle posted in this forum.

If the FBI wallet with 141,000 bitcoins was stolen what do you think would happen with the bitcoin price?

Suppose it is the coins held by the FBI and someone dare to hack them then they will help you spend the rest of the life under bars .

[virasisog]

I doubt if there is a sane mind who would dare still BTC on FBI, it may take a lot of jobs dispensing this amount of BTC all at once not unless you want to get caught by the FBI knowing that KYC is required for you to be able to deposit or withdraw huge amount of money.  However, if you will sell this amount in small chunks to avoid KYC this might take forever since some exchanges will only allow you to deposit or withdraw just a few BTC. The news might create some panic which might be irrelevant to the market, selling it in small chunks will not, most likely of the price gets corrected institutions will surely buy them back.

[Kakmakr]

It is not entirely unlikely, because we saw what the law enforcement officials (FBI Agents) did in the Silkroad case. See this article for more information : https://news.bitcoin.com/rogue-silk-road-agent-admits-to-stealing-bitcoins-seized-by-u-s-marshals/

I have seen crime documentaries where hardware wallets was seized, so I reckon these guys know how to store bitcoins on hardware wallets, so my guess is that the coins are stored on hardware wallets and not on Exchanges.

The dumping of these coins will only cause a temporary slump in the price... then it will recover within a week or two. 

[pooya87]

I don't think law enforcement anywhere in the world keeps hanging on to confiscated bitcoins for that long. In fact FBI has many public auctions where they sell bitcoins they've confiscated from criminals regularly. Although OP has provided no proof whatsoever that his claims of those coins being in the hands of FBI but assuming that's correct those coins would move sooner or later.

[ranochigo]

Assuming that that address does indeed belongs to FBI, do you think they bought it legitimately or do you think they seized it from the criminals? From some people's perspective, seizing assets would probably be equivalent to theft, no matter what the crime is. Afterall, the proceeds from selling them would probably just be used to fund the law enforcement further and nothing changes from the taxpayer's contributions. So, would it really matter if it gets stolen yet again?

I don't know. Sounds like no one would really care.