[cryptica]

But think about it. What does bankrupcy actually mean if all of the bankrupt person's assets are in crypto and only they know the private key? The bank/creditors cannot recover these assets.

So by that definition, is the person actually bankrupt if they still control all of these crypto assets?

One could argue that crypto makes reckless individuals bankruptcy-proof.

[cesarb]

> What does bankrupcy actually mean if all of the bankrupt person's assets are in crypto and only they know the private key? The bank cannot recover these assets.

There are two cases: either the person declares these assets, or the person tries to hide these assets. If these assets are declared, they must be sold to pay as much as possible of the debts, or the debts won't be forgiven. If the person tries to hide these assets, the consequences are much worse; a quick web search tells me the debts won't be forgiven (or the forgiveness will be revoked after the fact), these debts cannot be forgiven later on another bankruptcy, and the person can even be arrested and/or pay a heavy fine (source: https://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/bankruptcy/hiding-as...).

[cryptica]

They can probably leave their home country and go to some country like Russia or China (or they could probably do the reverse and come to the US if their creditors are in China) and take their crypto with them. Even in the absolute worst case, some countries won't extradite to others.

Even the UK willingly accepts money from rich Russians. A lot of properties in London were bought with dirty Russian money; Russia can't get it back.

[Nursie]

Yes, transplanting your entire life somewhere else is definitely better than obeying the law and participating honestly in bankrupcy proceedings, which are there to provide help to people unable to service their debts by providing a reset mechanism.

It's like you think bankrupcy is worse than the alternative - your debts following you everywhere, forever, even when you're utterly insolvent.

[sweeneyrod]

You can just bury money in your backyard and not tell your creditors if you're willing to break the law.