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Comment by gfdfddd | Hacker News Reader

if you were trying to block russia on ETH, and you were already blocking certain BTC addresses and it's "descendants" to the end of the blockchain... how many hours do you think ETH addresses associated with things like tornado would last? 24? 48?

all of crypto ignores the real world.

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No idea what the actual numbers look like, but I think I see your point and think that level of overreach is unlikely to happen in most scenarios. If the government could track cash as well as they could track crypto, should a business or individual that unknowingly receives illicit cash be punished? It's certainly possible but I think it would be untenable in a country where people can vote. I also didn't expect Canada to freeze bank accounts before last month, so maybe I'm off base

What I imagine is them releasing publicly a list of "tainted" bitcoin. The government would consider it basic due diligence to not accept those bitcoins for payment.

If I buy a product from you, and I then transferred the payment to you through a US sanctioned entity, it would be your responsibility to not accept the payment. If you accept the payment, an FBI agent might come remind you of your duties.

In case of Bitcoin transactions, if such a law came into place, you might for example add to the contract that the payment in bitcoin needs to be made in non-tainted bitcoin.

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