“Bank accounts and cryptocurrency. Let’s talk about blockchains.” Lisa looked dreamy, as if she’d just unearthed a real Birkin bag.
“Um, okay.” Blockchains? “Please, make it easy to understand.”
“Just the basics. I promise. You’ve sent mail before, correct?”
“Sure. I email all the time.”
“Let’s say you write this letter on paper. You put a stamp on it and send it. Only you and the recipient know what it says—unless it’s been intercepted illegally by a nosy postman. Pretend it hasn’t.”
“I’m tracking.”
“Good.” Lisa tapped her desk with a short, pink-painted nail. “Now let’s say you send a postcard. Whatever you’ve written on the back can be read by everyone who handles it. You, the neighbor staring over your shoulder when you mail it, the postal clerk, the mailroom.”
“Right. I get it. It’s not confidential.”
“Well, think of all those eyes and handlers like an online banking system. All the institutions involved see your transactions.”
“I’m with you so far.”
“Now, instead of a postcard, you send a different message.In this one, you carve your message into a block of steel. Then you send a thousand copies to people around the world. If anyone tries to change one of them, every single copy you carved disagrees. The message gets rejected.”
“Still with you.”
“And that’s known as a blockchain. See, every crypto transaction gets locked into a tamper-proof ledger that lives on thousands of computers. There’s no one handling the package either. No mailman or clerk. And there are no names attached for the sender or recipient. Just wallet-IDs.”
Jane frowned. “But these guys took money from our vics.”
“Yes, but to do that, they stole thekeysto unlocking the wallets. Those long strings of code. You get the key, you own the money. Easy-peasy. No ID check or facial recognition.”
Jane nodded in understanding. “So that’s why they’re targeting the homes. They steal the information to unlock those blockchains.”
“I’d bet money—real money—the victims are missing something you haven’t found yet. Biometric devices, backup drives, maybe cold wallets.”
“Cold wallets?”
Lisa nodded. “More like cold storage. Cold wallets keep private keys offline, so it makes them more secure from hacking or malware. You’re essentially using a cold wallet to store your digital assets in an isolated, secure environment.”
“Like a thumb drive, but one that can handle a lot more data.”
“Yep. Like that. And with that, they could be moving millions, hell, billions, through untraceable shell chains.”
“Wait. So we can’t trace the money?” Yet they’d found evidence the Duvalls had lost millions. Jane was confused.
“No, we can. The transactions are recorded on public ledgers called…wait for it. Blockchains!”
“My brain’s about to explode.”
Lisa chuckled. “The crypto exchanges have to report to the IRS.Do you really think the government would be okay with people secretly moving money around without trying to tax it?”
“That’s something at least,” Jane said grimly then had another thought. “So if we’re basically talking about digital storage, then what was stolen might not just be money. Could they be missing data as well?”
“Yes. The question is, who are your criminals gathering the data for, and why?”
Considering the wealth and power of the victims, Jane thoughtthatwas the billion-dollar question.
Chapter 7
Jane satwith SSA Grimshaw in her boss’s office and brought her up to speed.
