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Feds arrest couple, seize $3.6B in hacked Bitcoin funds

washingtonpost.com

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Re: Feds arrest couple, seize $3.6B in hacked Bitcoin funds

#321

Post by JumpCrisscross »

kelseyfrog wrote: post #62
fxtentacle wrote: post #4

Shouldn't all true crypto believers hate this news? It's the government trying to enforce their opinion of who should own those Bitcoins, thereby taking power away from the owner that the network has decided on, which would be "whoever has the cryptographic keys".

As a crypto unbeliever I hate this too. Legal enforcement legitimizes crypto as property. It expands the definition of property by institutionally conferring the status of "owned" to a functional configuration of bits distributed over thousands of computers. Do we have this concept for other things? yes. But I'd rather like to contract the space of property rather than expand it.

> Legal enforcement legitimizes crypto as property

People standing ready to buy legitimizes crypto as property. I don't love crypto. But prohibition has never worked as intended.

Re: Feds arrest couple, seize $3.6B in hacked Bitcoin funds

#322

Post by hungryforcodes »

giaour wrote: post #264
AlexanderTheGr8 wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Crypto 101: never store private keys online.

Crypto 102: weep for the coins you lost when your cousin spilled soda on the hard drive containing the offline-only copy of your private keys

It's funny! But really there are loads of ways to store your keys physically that are human readable.

Re: Feds arrest couple, seize $3.6B in hacked Bitcoin funds

#323

Post by trhway »

zozbot234 wrote: post #199
paulpauper wrote: post #178

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is just unreal. this guy was living a double life of being the greatest criminal ever. So among our community was a $4 billion hacker, just nonchalantly posting. I don't think he will be commenting anytime soon again if this really is him https://news.ycombinator.com/threads?id=il like your neighbor being a serial killer or something

He was just a million-dollar hacker, but the power of HODL boosted his illicit fortune to the billion-dollar range.

reading a bit about him and the hack (which at some point was for example blamed on those Israeli brothers with connections to IDF hacking unit) i kind of not sure that he is the hacker ( and note that he is charged with laundering not hacking) - he in my view better fits the profile of the "investor"/"fencer" whose involvement would be to launder.

Sidenote: one of the reasons i don't touch crypto is possible laundering charge/suspicion if the tokens happens to had passed through unsavory hands/situation (which may be even unknown at the time) or God forbid 2-3 transactions after me the tokens get involved in terrorism/etc. - imagine as a minimum for example the "FBI background check" hell your GC/etc. will be stuck forever ...

Re: Feds arrest couple, seize $3.6B in hacked Bitcoin funds

#324

Post by vmception »

fxtentacle wrote: post #4

Shouldn't all true crypto believers hate this news? It's the government trying to enforce their opinion of who should own those Bitcoins, thereby taking power away from the owner that the network has decided on, which would be "whoever has the cryptographic keys".

True crypto believers look at the court case to see what parts of the system need to be made more resilient, if any.

Here its poor OPSEC, no improvement is necessary.

Re: Feds arrest couple, seize $3.6B in hacked Bitcoin funds

#325

Post by NationalPark »

mardifoufs wrote: post #265
d23 wrote: post #223

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's the standard for our criminal justice system, not for us as individuals. It sounds from the release that the justice department has a boatload of compelling evidence against them.

There's a reason why the criminal justice system operates like that though. The system has been designed like that because it turned that it is a very good idea not to go on witch hunts or to assume guilt if you want a functional society. I'm not defending the person involved here, but it's important to remember that the presumption of innocence isn't just an abstract legal concept instead of a very important part of…

Surely the important distinction here is that the state has the power to imprison or execute people. In our day to day lives, we frequently make decisions based on things not proved to that standard, such as in job interviews or on dates. Presumption of innocence is very much an abstract legal contrivance, though it's insightful to see in what cases people suddenly decide it needs to be applied outside that realm.

Re: Feds arrest couple, seize $3.6B in hacked Bitcoin funds

#326

Post by vmception »

AlexanderTheGr8 wrote: post #312

> One overlooked detail in the Razzlekahn arrest. Almost all the money went through AlphaBay, using it as a mixer. The feds were able to see through this because they seized AlphaBay. Its amazing how, even years after, darknet market seizures pay dividends to the feds. Another fascinating detail. Source: https://twitter.com/ncweaver/status/1491118233973571585

Why do they call it Razzlekahn?

I was just watching her tiktok account, pure cringe.

Re: Feds arrest couple, seize $3.6B in hacked Bitcoin funds

#327

Post by brewdad »

algorade wrote: post #310
fxtentacle wrote: post #4

Shouldn't all true crypto believers hate this news? It's the government trying to enforce their opinion of who should own those Bitcoins, thereby taking power away from the owner that the network has decided on, which would be "whoever has the cryptographic keys".

The cryptographic keys were stored on a cloud storage device. Law enforcement agencies gained access to these keys while executing a search warrant and used them move the funds. So by this logic, the government is now the rightful owner of these funds.

Correct. This is why crypto, at least in its current form, must fail. In the crypto world possession is 10/10ths of the law.

Re: Feds arrest couple, seize $3.6B in hacked Bitcoin funds

#328

Post by Server6 »

djanogo wrote: post #317
bostonsre wrote: post #286

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't understand why he wouldn't move to somewhere that doesn't have an extradition policy with the US. If you go down that path, it seems like you should probably be willing to abandon your life. It's the same with Ross Ulbricht, seems like it would be terrifying living with that sword of damocles hanging over your head absolutely constantly.

If he goes somewhere which doesn't have extradition, FED's will just call him and tell him they will go public that he has $4B bitcoin and ALL criminals will be hunting them after that.

You pay them off?

Re: Feds arrest couple, seize $3.6B in hacked Bitcoin funds

#329

Post by thereddaikon »

nybble41 wrote: post #104
realce wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Computer Fraud and Abuse Act covers any unauthorized access regardless of how the credentials were obtained or... magically guessed.

In the scenario outlined there would be no unauthorized access to any systems, whether owned by Bitfinex or anyone else, so I really don't see how the CFAA could possibly apply here. As for the cryptocurrency network itself, the protocol is that anyone who has the private key is authorized to spend the corresponding funds—how the key was obtained is irrelevant. Of course, correctly guessing a 256-bit random private k…

CFA would likely consider a bitcoin wallet a "system". You weren't authorized to access funds in that wallet.

And even if it weren't that's no different than guessing someone's bank account number and paying for purchases that way. Its still someone else's money and its still stealing.

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