[specialist]

Mugging, larceny, robbery, assault & battery, a stick-up.

Kids these days.... Always inventing new words for old ideas, amirite?

More seriously: I'm still a little unclear how stealing crypto is feasible. There's a ledger, right? Tumblers are really that effective at hiding the chain of custody?

At some point(s) the cyberspace "durable digital asset" (h/t a15z) has to emerge in meatspace, right? Even if it pops up in Russia, NK, or Golden Triangle, there's always some heads to bash, fingers to break. Right?

[brewdad]

I imagine it works like the stolen art world. You can’t just put that lost Picasso on auction at Sotheby’s, but the right buyer will take that wallet off your hands and wash it.

[beeflet]

>There's a ledger, right?

There is tech for private transactions, but the cryptography is more complex. It's used in cryptocurrencies like zcash or monero. You can also trade between different cryptocurrencies without trusting an intermediary, using "atomic swaps". So if you seize cryptocurrency you think will be tainted, you have a small window to swap it for private (and thus fungible) currency.

https://cointelegraph.com/news/zachxbt-330m-btc-heist-xmr-su...

This business is booming!