They mean that if they can physically restrain you, and they know you have Bitcoin, they can demand that you hand it over or they'll throw you in jail.
What they cannot do is take properly secured, self-custodial Bitcoin on the network level without your consent.
So the "seizure" they're referring to here applies to literally everything else that might have value.
Also, calling self-custodial Bitcoin "offline" is a massive tell that someone doesn't know how Bitcoin actually works. There's no "offline" and "online" Bitcoin.
@SummersJohns69@policytensor Sanctions are not seizure and Iran is already sanctioned, as are other countries. They could send one another Bitcoin just fine and no-one could stop them.
Die feit dat iemand "onnosel" kan wees impliseer ook dat hy "nosel" kan wees.
En daar is 'n middelnederlandse woord "nosel" wat skadelik beteken.
Dis hoekom "onnosel" vroeër ook "onskuldig" beteken het.
Later het die betekenis van die woord gewandel na "dom" of "clueless".
"nosel" kom waarskynlik van Oudfrans "noise" (lawaai, rumoer) en is dus verwant aan die Engelse "noise".
"Noise" is weer verwant aan Latyns "nausea" (seesiekte, walging, afkeer) en Grieks "nausia" (seesiekte), van "naus" (skip).
Dit kan miskien ook verband hou met Latyns "nocēre", wat “skade aandoen” beteken.
@cdevidal@policytensor This discussion started with Iran, and they're already blacklisted, and so is Russia and North Korea.
So already there are 3 countries that can trade these Bitcoins with one another without anyone able to stop them.
More could join.
@BrewWhisper@policytensor Nothing has inherent value. All value is subjective.
If you're dying of thirst water effectively has infinite value, if you're drowning it has negative value.
Bitcoin has value because its properties are deemed valuable by market participants.
You don't. You can buy goods and services directly with Bitcoin.
You can also exchange Bitcoin for fiat p2p with whoever is willing to do so with you.
Interfacing with the legacy financial system is a choice, and one that Iran is actively trying to avoid (but then they were dumb and chose stablecoins which are still effectively part of the legacy system and seizable).
You cannot freeze transactions on the network level. That's a fact.
Even if a wallet is blacklisted somewhere, you can still send those coins to another address without any problems.
They can try to block on- and offramps, but there are ways around that as well, and Bitcoin is global, outside of the jurisdiction of any single entity.
The point still remains that if Iran received Bitcoin to a self-custodied address, they would still have those coins now.
@SummersJohns69@policytensor Oh, are they going to throw Iran in jail?
You can create a Bitcoin address by flipping a coin 256 times. Who's going to know that address belongs to you?