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The U.S. cracked a $3.4B crypto heist and Bitcoin’s anonymity

wsj.com

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Re: The U.S. cracked a $3.4B crypto heist and Bitcoin’s anonymity

#101

Post by CoastalCoder »

lazide wrote: post #79
from wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Plea hearing is fun reading: https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nysd.58... > So, Mr. Zhong, the statute of limitations for the crime you're charged with in the information is five years. Accordingly, you could argue that the time to prosecute you for this crime has passed, and that the crime is now time barred; you can no longer be prosecuted. Have you discussed this with Mr. Bachner? > THE DEFENDAN…

The worst part IMO? That the suitcase of cash didn’t work.

> The worst part IMO? That the suitcase of cash didn’t work.

As a parent of young men, I'm glad it didn't work. IMHO it would have been bad for the character development of both parties.

Re: The U.S. cracked a $3.4B crypto heist and Bitcoin’s anonymity

#102

Post by alex_young »

8note wrote: post #91
marksmith2996 wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

only if they're still alive

Or if they brought their phone with them

In this scenario the person transacting the bitcoin murdered their counterparty but the cellphone is still intact?

Re: The U.S. cracked a $3.4B crypto heist and Bitcoin’s anonymity

#103

Post by UncleEntity »

acdha wrote: post #83
caminante wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But AFAIK, you can launder cryptos, right? [0] [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cryptocurrency_tumbler#

You can, but this is the kind of thing which is very easy to get wrong in ways which are significant legal risks on their own. For example, if you were some random cryptobro buying personal quantities of drugs in 2015 there’s some risk but the FBI probably isn’t going to spend time on something that small. If you do anything which reveals funds going to or from a tumbler, however, the risk isn’t just KYC but also que…

> …and think about how hard it could be to prove you didn’t know the other parties in a transaction.

They have to prove you committed a crime, all you need to do is have a lawyer present during questioning.

Re: The U.S. cracked a $3.4B crypto heist and Bitcoin’s anonymity

#104

Post by NotYourLawyer »

paulpauper wrote: post #87
NotYourLawyer wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> he was caught by linking fraud wallet to exchange wallet How are you supposed to turn fraudulently obtained btc into dollars without doing that?

by simply using a third wallet that does not link the two? HIs mistake was a rookie move that could have been avoided but he got lazy. Lazy criminals make law enforcement's job easier. https://twitter.com/Rarest2012/status/1646211056782524442

I don’t understand what the third wallet does. If the first wallet is tainted, anybody can just look to see what destination wallets it sends to and follow the trail. Adding an extra wallet doesn’t help.

Re: The U.S. cracked a $3.4B crypto heist and Bitcoin’s anonymity

#105

Post by inlined »

celticninja wrote: post #100
dsr_ wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Parallel construction: if you do enough crime-adjacent things, the likelihood that you are also engaged in crime makes you interesting to law enforcement.

What is crime adjacent that isn't criminal activity?

Large amounts of money being sent through tumblers is definitely suspicious. Or spending more money than reported income.

Re: The U.S. cracked a $3.4B crypto heist and Bitcoin’s anonymity

#106

Post by [deleted] »

ETH_start wrote: post #88
from wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's a felony to use Tornado Cash now. And the government interprets sanctions law extraterritorially so you're not safe in other countries either.

The sanctions are being challenged in court. A federal agency prohibiting use of what is nothing but software is totally unconstitutional, and amounts to a total abrogation of internet freedom, done without any public process like legislation. It also amounts to a general criminalization of financial privacy. So hopefully the legal challenge succeeds.

[deleted]

Re: The U.S. cracked a $3.4B crypto heist and Bitcoin’s anonymity

#107

Post by nr2x »

msm_ wrote: post #42
berkle4455 wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

they didn’t listen then and they don’t listen now. waste of effort.

Satoshi (and many other OG members of bitcointalk) knew, and tried to improve the protocol. BTC was not set in stone at the beginning. It's just at some point Satoshi disappeared, and moonfags[1] who controlled the capital (miners and exchanges) weren't interested in any technical improvements that may make regulators more angry, causing the end of most innovation in the cryptocurrency space. [1]Sorry for the very co…

Yeah that’s super offensive, I would avoid it altogether.

Re: The U.S. cracked a $3.4B crypto heist and Bitcoin’s anonymity

#108

Post by inlined »

ETH_start wrote: post #88
from wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's a felony to use Tornado Cash now. And the government interprets sanctions law extraterritorially so you're not safe in other countries either.

The sanctions are being challenged in court. A federal agency prohibiting use of what is nothing but software is totally unconstitutional, and amounts to a total abrogation of internet freedom, done without any public process like legislation. It also amounts to a general criminalization of financial privacy. So hopefully the legal challenge succeeds.

What part of the constitution prohibits banning software?

Re: The U.S. cracked a $3.4B crypto heist and Bitcoin’s anonymity

#109

Post by hedora »

acdha wrote: post #76
SahAssar wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But used as intended (not via a KYC exchange) it is pseudonymous, right?

Only if you and everyone you ever deal with have perfect security. As soon as one person’s identity is leaked, that opens the possibility of a real-world ID being linked to a wallet. This story from about a year ago also showed how that worked with investigators tracing it link by link: https://www.wired.com/story/tracers-in-the-dark-welcome-to-v...

Pseudonymity has exactly the same problem.

Re: The U.S. cracked a $3.4B crypto heist and Bitcoin’s anonymity

#110

Post by ETH_start »

inlined wrote: post #108
ETH_start wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The sanctions are being challenged in court. A federal agency prohibiting use of what is nothing but software is totally unconstitutional, and amounts to a total abrogation of internet freedom, done without any public process like legislation. It also amounts to a general criminalization of financial privacy. So hopefully the legal challenge succeeds.

What part of the constitution prohibits banning software?

The First Amendment.
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