Can’t die in a helicopter if you can’t afford one…
The Q is: what could these people have been doing which made them a target?
We have a 200+ post thread on cryptocurrencies so somebody “must” know something about how it works. But maybe not? 
and … nobody knows how cryptocurrencies work
Peter wrote:
and … nobody knows how cryptocurrencies work
You keep saying that, but it’s not true. There are two sides to Cryptocurrencies.
1. Technical – It’s just a form of calculation that gets harder and harder to do to make new solutions rarer. Then there is a distributed recording of the outcomes. It’s just maths and nothing particularly wonderful.
2. Phycology – You now have a rare thing. You now convince someone to pay you for it. In the case of crypto currencies, you’re someone is just paying you because they have been convinced that someone else will pay them more after a period of time. In many ways it’s no different to fine art (other than the fact that you might enjoy the piece of art or get bragging rights for owning it). You buy the fine art in anticipation that someone else will pay you more for it later.
I (and others) might suggest it’s a scam, in that you’ve bought nothing with intrinsic value. But plenty of people have already made lots of money from it. You just want to make sure that you aren’t holding it when (if) it all comes crashing down. It’s a confidence trick. So long as there is confidence, it will be valuable. If the confidence is lost, so is the value.
The technicals are really irrelevant. A smart programmer with a laptop can invent a new crypto currency. It’s convincing people to pay you money for it that is the hard part.
dublinpilot wrote:
You keep saying that, but it’s not true. There are two sides to Cryptocurrencies.1. Technical – It’s just a form of calculation that gets harder and harder to do to make new solutions rarer. Then there is a distributed recording of the outcomes. It’s just maths and nothing particularly wonderful.
Indeed. The blockchain technique which is underlying cryptocurrencies is really a solution looking for a problem. Arguably even cryptocurrencies could have been done without. Also they are an economic and environmental disaster given the amount of computing power which is needed (by design) to create new coins.
Peter wrote:
My comment was re my Q above
Well there are four parts of the headline that are relevant:
Russian
Tycoon
Helicopter
Crypto currency.
I suspect the first three might be of more relevance than the last!
Helicopter are dangerous, especially in the hands of someone with more confidence than ability.
There are a lot of Russians dying of unexplained accidents recently.
How did the tycoon become a tycoon? Lots of Russian Tycoons seem to have gotten their wealth in unusual circumstances. He might have made a lot enemies along the way.
Nothing particularly dangerous (other than financial risks) about cypro currencies. Unless someone thought he was stealing theirs!
What I wondered is whether these people may have found some way to undermine this scheme.
For example if anyone found a way to break RSA (e.g. a fast way to factorise large numbers) they would be assassinated immediately
For example if anyone found a way to break RSA (e.g. a fast way to factorise large numbers) they would be assassinated immediately
Not looking good for quantum computing researchers then.
If somebody can build one that actually does something useful, indeed
Most of the press coverage is BS.
