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Binance fired employees who found $1.7B in crypto was sent to Iran

nytimes.com

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Re: Binance fired employees who found $1.7B in crypto was sent to Iran

#71

Post by guywithahat »

wat10000 wrote: post #44
g947o wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Citation needed. Bear in mind that this guy pleaded guilty in a court case. Even if the prosecution is political, the facts don't lie.

When it comes to extremely rich people, "political prosecution" generally means that the behavior was absolutely criminal, but that it's usually something they let rich people get away with.

It can also mean it's political. Famously (whether you think he's guilty or not) John Kiriakou pled guilty because he knew John Brennan was going to throw the entire might of the justice system at him. When he talks about the experience, his decisions are made with consideration to the fact the president's inner circle wanted him in jail and he wasn't fighting a fair battle.

Re: Binance fired employees who found $1.7B in crypto was sent to Iran

#72

Post by toomuchtodo »

natpalmer1776 wrote: post #48
hilliardfarmer wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What a deeply troubling and cynical comment. As far as I know, nowhere in the Bitcoin white paper or the original code base. Does it say anything about what you seem to think it's use cases are. Bitcoin has one main use, digital cash, that can be sent instantly and for free or a very low fee. Edit: I would agree though, that anything other than that is probably a scam.

Men of principles often mistake the experience and observations of others for cynicism when it does not align with said principles. This applies to a great deal, not just bitcoin.

Relevant citations:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_purpose_of_a_system_is_wha...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theory_of_mind

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bounded_rationality

"We must take the world as it is and not as we would like it to be." - Maurice Allais

Re: Binance fired employees who found $1.7B in crypto was sent to Iran

#73

Post by numbers_guy »

chihuahua wrote: post #35
paxys wrote: post #6

Isn't this like the #1 use case for crypto? Everyone wants an untrackable unblockable currency that is out of government control until the day it is used for things they don't like, then suddenly "government please control this!"

I thought the #1 use case for crypto was ransomware, followed by shitcoin rug-pulls, and the ability to commit theft without recourse. Sending money to Iran is just a minor edge case.

Back in 2011 I remember a lot of people talking about how the Chinese oligarchs were using it to evade currency controls and funnel their wealth out of China.

Re: Binance fired employees who found $1.7B in crypto was sent to Iran

#74

Post by wat10000 »

StopDisinfo910 wrote: post #43
wat10000 wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can't track individual coins, so you'd have to "taint" entire wallets. Using a mixer would taint the mixer and every wallet it sent to. I'd think this would end up tainting almost everything before too long. Bitcoin also doesn't require the receiver to authorize a transaction, so if you had control of a tainted wallet, you could taint other wallets at will, wielding it like a weapon. Doesn't seem feasible. Not th…

> Using a mixer would taint the mixer and every wallet it sent to. I'd think this would end up tainting almost everything before too long. Is that actually an issue? I am looking for it but I can't see a downside.

Depends on your goal. If you want to keep the system going while blocking "dirty" money, it's not going to work. If you want to use that as a stealth method of banning the whole system, then full steam ahead.

Re: Binance fired employees who found $1.7B in crypto was sent to Iran

#75

Post by lazyasciiart »

chihuahua wrote: post #35
paxys wrote: post #6

Isn't this like the #1 use case for crypto? Everyone wants an untrackable unblockable currency that is out of government control until the day it is used for things they don't like, then suddenly "government please control this!"

I thought the #1 use case for crypto was ransomware, followed by shitcoin rug-pulls, and the ability to commit theft without recourse. Sending money to Iran is just a minor edge case.

Isn't it just a subset of #3?

Re: Binance fired employees who found $1.7B in crypto was sent to Iran

#76

Post by StopDisinfo910 »

wat10000 wrote: post #74
StopDisinfo910 wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Using a mixer would taint the mixer and every wallet it sent to. I'd think this would end up tainting almost everything before too long. Is that actually an issue? I am looking for it but I can't see a downside.

Depends on your goal. If you want to keep the system going while blocking "dirty" money, it's not going to work. If you want to use that as a stealth method of banning the whole system, then full steam ahead.

Would banning the whole system have any downside? It's still unclear to me what crypto is supposed to be useful for.

Re: Binance fired employees who found $1.7B in crypto was sent to Iran

#77

Post by moralestapia »

paxys wrote: post #6

Isn't this like the #1 use case for crypto? Everyone wants an untrackable unblockable currency that is out of government control until the day it is used for things they don't like, then suddenly "government please control this!"

What's funny is that Bitcoin/Ethereum are now the most tracked ledgers on the planet. If I wanted to do some shady value exchange it would be my last choice.

Re: Binance fired employees who found $1.7B in crypto was sent to Iran

#78

Post by quinnjh »

whynotmaybe wrote: post #63
rwmj wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's a rather narrow view of crypto's uses. What about subverting democracy by bribing the President?

For me it was buying a computer from newegg but I confess I'm not playing in the same league.

What was the benefit to you over using USD? (actually wondering)

Re: Binance fired employees who found $1.7B in crypto was sent to Iran

#79

Post by 47282847 »

nytesky wrote: post #61
ericbuildsio wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Could someone explain to me where the myth of "crypto = untrackable" comes from, and why it's still being perpetuated? Storing a record of every single transaction on a publicly accessible blockchain sounds trackable by design

I think it’s part of the Origin Story. Bitcoin was created by Satoshi Nakamoto almost 20 years ago. There are a number of wallets that people believe belong to Satoshi (have they proven they belong to SN?) Yet the identification of Satoshi has eluded a global hunt to identify him. Maybe law enforcement has not been involved, but the mystery definitely suggests that BitCoin can help mask identity.

The wallets attributed to Satoshi have not seen any coin movement so it only shows that one can publish code pseudonymously, not that one can use BTC anonymously.

Re: Binance fired employees who found $1.7B in crypto was sent to Iran

#80

Post by ericbuildsio »

subscribed wrote: post #52
ericbuildsio wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Could someone explain to me where the myth of "crypto = untrackable" comes from, and why it's still being perpetuated? Storing a record of every single transaction on a publicly accessible blockchain sounds trackable by design

In the case of bitcoin, surely. Some other coins not so much trackable, and that's the reason some countries don't like them: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/binance-delist-monero-zcash-4...

Fascinating, I didn't know that Zcash / Monero worked that way. Thanks!
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