Great read. The thing is, this guy(s) just needs to make 1 mistake. It might not even be his mistake. e.g. The NSA gets their hands on the VPN provider, etc. and tracks him down.
Even years later tech might come out to do better tracking and if ANYWHERE along the line he made 1 mistake, that could be the straw that breaks him.

I think it is a matter of time before we start seeing some big thieves get busted. Also, Forensic analysis and analysts are not posting and are following. I think the thief gets nabbed.

IAS

ps - Thief, if you are listening, just donate the bitcoins to wikileakes and other disruptive technology firms...

Both cases are risky for the thief. If he don't use a mixer, he will be immediately tracked. Especially true with the 2nd option.

WOW, that's one hell of a story! Yeah, he must be the only person on the planet who wishes he didn't have so many Bitcoins 

Agreed. It is just a matter of time. When you steal soooo many coins, soooo many people are watching the movements.
And on top of that there are many Forensic guys that don't post here and are making it their pet project.
So, you have a guy injecting hit .000666 btc into every transaction they can find and others following with or without that.
Just a matter of time. They will slip up somewhere or a problem with the VPN, or just something unexpected...

All he has to do is send the coins to localbitcoins, sell them there, for cash, and he is golden.  Not rocket science.

I understand completely actually.

He sends the btc to a localbtc address.  There is no way that you know that the address he sends to is a localbtc address.  All you know is that he sent the coins to another wallet.  He sells for cash.  Localbtc transfers coins to buyer. 

How are you going to trace him?  You can keep following the coins, but you will be chasing the wrong person.

For small amounts wouldn't tor browser with new exchange account sell for darkcoin. Then dark to lite work? I would find that extremely difficult to trace no?

There are ways to find it out. Most of the localbitcoins wallets are tagged. Even if they are not, we can send alerts to the localbitcoins admins.

If I had some btc laying around, I would prove to you that you cannot trace coins for longer than 24 hours, if someone does not want you to.  This guy is just a moron.

Care to place a bet?  Have someone send me .01 btc, and then tag it however you want.  I bet you wont be able to trace it, and I will return it totally clean, no tumbler service needed.