Does owning cryptocurrency make you a target for theft, home invasion, kidnapping, ransom, etc?

00:02 let's talk about whether owning 00:03 cryptocurrency makes you a target for 00:06 armed robbery theft home invasion uh 00:09 kidnapping ransom and all the evils of 00:12 the world uh the short take is the 00:14 statistical probability is almost zero 00:16 but I want to walk through that 00:18 statistical probability because I think 00:19 it'll help you feel better and I'll also 00:21 give you a few tips on what you can do 00:22 if you're worried about it even if the 00:24 statistical probability is almost zero 00:26 okay so in the United States this is 00:28 some quick stats I pulled off chat GPT 00:30 but in the United States there are about 00:32 100,000 00:34 armed robberies every year 100,000 armed 00:37 robberies now specific to cryptocurrency 00:40 someone actually tries to keep up with 00:42 every single instance where any of the 00:45 bad things I mentioned home invasions 00:47 armed robberies uh kidnapping ransom 00:50 anything like that involves someone for 00:52 their cryptocurrency and uh that person 00:55 is Jameson Lop who's the chief uh uh 00:58 strategy officer or actually she chief 01:02 security officer maybe I think of Casa 01:04 which is a Bitcoin company right so he 01:07 keeps up uh his Twitter handle is lop l 01:11 so l Jameson lop he keeps up with the 01:15 stuff and he tweets it basically every 01:16 time he ever finds anything anywhere in 01:19 the world uh other countries have had 01:21 more of an issue but still statistically 01:23 it's almost zero but anyway so if there 01:25 are 100,000 armed robberies in the 01:28 United States the total number of things 01:30 I keep up with that Jameson lot post is 01:33 fewer than 10 in the United States in a 01:36 given year so we're talking about 10 01:38 versus 100,000 which means the 01:41 probability of an armed robbery uh 01:44 happening that was uh related to 01:47 cryptocurrency is like 1 in 10,000 01:50 chance that it was related to 01:51 cryptocurrency versus just it happened 01:53 in general so the short take is 01:54 criminals are almost always targeting 01:56 people because they can easily target 01:58 the people and it has nothing to do with 02:01 cryptocurrency the cryptocurrency if 02:03 people are targeting people for 02:04 cryptocurrency that is extremely 02:06 infrequent uh and again we're dealing 02:08 with I think to the best of my sort of 02:10 off the top of my head count is fewer 02:12 than 10 instances per year versus armed 02:15 robbery in the United States which is 02:16 like 100,000 a year so you're you're 02:19 dealing with statistical probabilities 02:21 of 10,000 to one or something ridiculous 02:23 like that if you try to find statistics 02:26 on home invasions and kidnappings and 02:29 ransoms and things like that the the uh 02:31 the numbers end up getting so small that 02:33 it's basically zero for in general uh 02:36 those things are just extremely 02:37 extremely unlikely in the United States 02:40 regardless of whether cryptocurrencies 02:42 are involved um so I would say is this 02:45 something the average person needs to 02:46 worry about no but at the same point 02:49 there's a lot of things in life where I 02:51 like to exercise extra caution uh just 02:54 because so the number one thing first of 02:57 all the likelihood that you're going to 02:58 lose your Bitcoin to something that 03:00 involves the use of force armed robbery 03:04 home invasion kidnapping ransom all that 03:06 sort of stuff is basically zero compared 03:08 to the likelihood that you're going to 03:10 get scammed or hacked so if you want to 03:12 worry about something you should worry 03:14 about getting ha scammed or hacked not 03:17 that something you know is going to 03:19 physically somebody's going to assault 03:20 you or you know force you to hand over 03:22 cryptocurrency the the stat statistical 03:24 probability of that is just almost zero 03:27 um so and the best way to protect 03:29 yourself against scamming and hacking is 03:31 to buy a bit key bit.orld 03:34 and keep your bitcoin on bit that is by 03:36 far the best way to keep your Bitcoin 03:38 out of the hands of uh scammers and 03:41 hackers if you want to take an 03:43 additional step and get your Bitcoin out 03:47 of the hands or out of reach of the 03:50 situation the other situations I'm 03:52 talking about by far the easiest way to 03:54 do that is to just move your Bit Key 03:57 from you know the jewelry you know 03:60 whatever you know your jewelry box in 04:02 your bedroom just move your bit key to a 04:04 safe deposit box at a bank safe deposit 04:07 boxes at banks typically uh cost about 04:10 $30 per year not per month per year 04:13 that's only $2.50 per month and a safe 04:16 deposit box at a bank you can just rent 04:18 the smallest one keep your bit key in 04:20 there that way in the extremely 04:23 statistically zero ability that you end 04:26 up in a home invasion or something like 04:28 that you always want to be in a position 04:30 that you can comply to the absolute best 04:31 of your ability and the best position to 04:34 be in is complying to the best of your 04:36 ability and not being able to do the 04:38 thing they want you to do because it's 04:39 physically impossible so if somebody you 04:42 know beats down your door at 2 a.m on a 04:44 Saturday and says "Give me all your 04:46 money all your all your jewelry and all 04:48 your cryptocurrency," what you want to 04:50 be able to tell them is "Here's all my 04:52 jewelry here here's all my money." 04:54 Whatever obviously you want to comply to 04:56 the best of your ability but you want to 04:58 say "Hey the problem is I can't give you 05:01 my Bitcoin because it's in a safe 05:03 deposit box at a bank and the bank is 05:05 closed at 2 a.m on a Saturday i'm sorry 05:08 like I can't give you the Bitcoin even 05:10 if I wanted to." That is the best way to 05:12 get your Bitcoin that further step which 05:15 again is statistically so insignificant 05:18 probability that it would ever happen 05:19 that again I even debate whether it's 05:21 even worth doing videos on but as the 05:24 price of Bitcoin rises especially if we 05:26 get a big parabolic run uh towards the 05:28 end of this year there's going to lot of 05:30 people that are going to feel like they 05:31 have so much Bitcoin that it makes them 05:32 nervous and so I want to sort of head 05:35 that off by just one highlighting just 05:37 how extraordinarily improbable it is 05:40 that something like this would happen 05:42 and if you ever do come across a news 05:44 article that involves 05:47 you know something horrible happening to 05:49 somebody in the United States related to 05:50 cryptocurrency it's almost always 05:53 there's more to the story so for example 05:55 there was a recent story where someone 05:57 was kidnapped related to cryptocurrency 05:60 but what actually happened is the person 06:02 was part of a scam ring and as part of 06:06 the scam ring he and his buddies had 06:08 scammed a bunch of people and he had run 06:12 off with the money and then there was a 06:14 kidnapping and extortion that was trying 06:17 to get the money back from all of the 06:19 scamming so again that's not going to 06:22 happen to any of you because you're not 06:24 running around scamming people if you 06:26 were running around scamming people then 06:27 I would say yes you actually do have to 06:30 worry about your safety because your you 06:33 know colleagues in crime are probably 06:35 going to come after you but you're not 06:37 running around scamming people so you 06:38 don't have to worry about your your 06:40 other scammers you know you don't have 06:42 to worry about them hating you if you 06:44 steal from them and they get mad at you 06:45 so almost always when there's stories uh 06:48 horrible stories about somebody 06:50 something happening first of all it's 06:51 extremely you know uncommon in the 06:53 United States but in the extremely rare 06:55 case that it's that something like that 06:56 happened it's typically part of a 06:59 organized crime ring to start with which 07:02 is very similar to the kind of uh crime 07:03 that happens related to drugs a huge 07:06 amount of the crime that happens related 07:07 to drugs is drug deals gone bad so if 07:11 you're worried about your safety and you 07:13 look at statistics and you see that a 07:15 certain city has a a certain number of 07:17 murders every year the question is "Yeah 07:19 but were those people participating in 07:21 an activity that you're going to be 07:22 participating in?" If the answer is well 07:25 a lot of those murders were drug deals 07:26 that got have gone bad well guess what 07:29 you're not participating in drug deals 07:31 which means you're not going to get shot 07:32 in the process of a drug deal gone bad 07:34 which means that you know the statistics 07:36 that are related to things you are not 07:38 doing don't apply to you so the same is 07:40 true in the world of cryp cryptocurrency 07:42 that uh not only is it statistically 07:45 extremely unlikely that those things 07:47 happen but when they do happen it 07:49 typically involves the intersection of 07:51 other crime that the person should not 07:53 have been involved with at all to start 07:55 with and as a result uh you know someone 07:58 like you is not going to be in that 07:60 position because you're not involved in 08:01 cryptocurrency crime and therefore the 08:04 blowback of that crime is not something 08:05 that applies to you if you want to 08:07 protect your Bitcoin the best way to do 08:09 it is to buy a bit key and if you want 08:11 to protect it even farther from home 08:12 invasions and things like that the easy 08:15 thing to do is just keep your bit key in 08:17 a safe deposit box in a bank that way if 08:19 somebody holds you up at gunpoint and 08:21 says "Get me all your Bitcoin." The 08:23 ideal answer is "I wish I could but I 08:26 can't because I need my bit key to give 08:28 you all my Bitcoin." And I promise you 08:30 guys do not want to go to a bank banks 08:33 have cameras banks have armed security 08:35 personnel they have the magic little 08:37 button they push that makes the police 08:38 come immediately banks have all the 08:41 sorts of security that bad guys don't 08:42 want to mess with unless they're there 08:44 to rob a bank but that doesn't apply to 08:46 you because you know that's not 08:48 something that applies to 08:49 cryptocurrencies so um bad guys do not 08:52 want to go to banks because of all the 08:54 security they want to rob people where 08:56 it's easy it's opportunistic and again 08:58 that's somewhere between 1,000 times 09:00 more likely and 10,000 times more likely 09:03 to happen with nothing to do with 09:06 cryptocurrency it just happened to 09:07 somebody as opposed to happening to 09:09 somebody because they were targeted for 09:11 cryptocurrency uh that being said things 09:13 you can do buy a bit key keep it in a 09:15 safe deposit box in a bank um you can 09:17 also don't tell anyone how much Bitcoin 09:20 you have uh now again I fudge that 09:22 principle a little bit because I talk 09:24 about percentages of my net worth in 09:26 Bitcoin but I never talk about how much 09:28 Bitcoin I have and I you know I've done 09:30 entire videos about why I have less 09:32 Bitcoin than people think I have but 09:33 regardless and in my case I take lots of 09:36 extra precautions i make it very very 09:39 difficult to get to my Bitcoin even for 09:41 me or my loved ones if me or my loved 09:45 ones were under duress or coercion so 09:47 I've thought through in my situation all 09:49 the different scenarios of kidnappings 09:52 and ransoms and you know extortion and 09:55 uh home invasion and all of the 09:57 different things and I've tried to make 09:59 my Bitcoin impossible to get in all of 10:01 those situations even by me even if I 10:04 want to even by my family members even 10:07 if they want to because in any situation 10:09 like that again it's extremely unlikely 10:11 not going to happen to you not something 10:12 you need to worry about but in those 10:14 situations you want to be able to comply 10:16 to the best of your ability and still 10:18 not have the bad guys get your Bitcoin 10:20 so again you know if I'm held up at 10:22 gunpoint and somebody says "Give me your 10:24 Bitcoin." The answer is I can't i like 10:25 literally can't me getting access to my 10:28 Bitcoin involves time delays which are 10:31 called time locks you know it involves 10:33 significant time delays it involves 10:35 geographic you know separation as in I 10:38 can't even get to my Bitcoin if I wanted 10:40 to right now like the ways and I'm not 10:42 going to go into all the details for 10:44 security reasons but even if I wanted to 10:46 get my Bitcoin right now in large 10:48 amounts it would take a huge amount of 10:50 time a a large number of different 10:53 locations none of which are close to 10:55 where I typically am it involves dogs it 10:58 involves armed security it involves 10:60 cameras it involves every conceivable 11:02 thing that a bad guy does not want to 11:04 have to deal with that is the gauntlet 11:07 that I have set up to make it extremely 11:09 difficult to get my Bitcoin even for me 11:11 because in a situation of duress or 11:14 coercion I want to make it almost 11:15 impossible for me or my loved ones to 11:18 get my Bitcoin even if we wanted to even 11:20 if we were trying to comply with an 11:23 attacker's demands um plus you know I I 11:27 love the movie Ransom which is a Mel 11:30 Gibson movie that came out a long time 11:31 ago and uh you know back then uh he he 11:34 did exactly what Coinbase did recently 11:36 which is uh a number of uh hackers 11:39 demanded a $20 million ransom because 11:41 they had stolen some customer 11:43 information from Coinbase and Coinbase 11:45 told them no and that instead of paying 11:47 a $20 million ransom they were instead 11:50 putting a $20 million bounty on the 11:53 heads of the people that stole the data 11:56 for the arrest and conviction of those 11:58 individuals so I love that approach and 12:00 obviously if I ever found my situ myself 12:02 in the similar situation that is the 12:04 approach I would take which is to say 12:06 hey however much money you're demanding 12:09 that is the bounty on your head so but 12:12 nobody needs to be in that situation 12:14 anyway nobody should be in that 12:15 situation anyway and nobody wants to 12:17 have to deal with making decisions like 12:19 that um so probabilities are you know 12:22 you're 10,000 somewhere between 1,000 12:24 and 10,000 times more likely to be uh to 12:27 be a victim of something bad happening 12:29 that has nothing to do with your 12:30 cryptocurrency than you are something 12:32 related to your cryptocurrency but the 12:34 the steps you can take don't ever tell 12:35 anybody how much Bitcoin you have like 12:38 don't tell them a number of Bitcoin or 12:40 an amount of Bitcoin um you know uh 12:44 other than that store your Bitcoin on a 12:46 bit key you know if you have more than 12:48 $10,000 of Bitcoin or whatever number is 12:51 a big number to you keep that bit key in 12:53 a safe deposit box at a bank where it's 12:55 you know no attacker is going to want to 12:57 go with you to a safe to a bank to get 12:59 your bit key to get your Bitcoin like 13:01 it's just not worth it for them um so uh 13:04 that's the ways you could protect 13:05 yourself again in my situation I have an 13:07 entire gauntlet that is much more 13:09 complicated much more difficult and uh 13:11 anticipates all of those bad things that 13:14 I've mentioned uh in this video uh but 13:17 that is not necessary for the average 13:19 person the average person get a bit key 13:21 get your Bitcoin out of the hands of 13:23 scammers and hackers that solved 99.999% 13:26 of your problem and if you want to solve 13:28 the other 0001% of your problem go get a 13:31 $30 um um uh safe deposit box in a bank 13:35 and keep your bit key in there and 13:37 you're good and you just don't have to 13:39 worry about this stuff so that helps 13:41 again uh especially anticipating a rise 13:43 in the price of Bitcoin later this year 13:45 i want to get ahead of that and uh make 13:47 you aware of all this stuff and for the 13:49 vast majority of people you just don't 13:50 have to worry about it but there are 13:51 common sense things you can do and 13:53 that's why I wanted to record this video 13:54 have a great day everyone thanks