Binance fired employees who found $1.7B in crypto was sent to Iran • Hacker News Board

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

#111

Post by carshodev » Mon, Feb 23, 2026, 9:54 PM UTC

wpietri wrote: post #70

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.

It seems entirely accurate to me, at least in a POSIWID sense. The original theory of Bitcoin was, as described in the paper, decentralized digital cash. But in practice it was never optimized for what normal people use cash for. As system like that would be something like M-PESA. Even at the time, cash was declining in usage. In the 18 years since, it has declined a lot more. And for good reason, because what most p…

Although it was originally intended to be cash it actually now is used as a "store of wealth" It allows people to build up wealth and be able to preserve it from government intervention and inflation. If you have stocks the ownerhsip and registration is controlled by a government and can be taken at any time from you.

Look at china where if you have a large company and take a stand against the government all your equity will be wiped out and you will be either imprisoned or banished to another country.

Cash in a government bank account is the same way, you can wake up one day and all your assets will be seized, your credit cards will stop working.

Bitcoin works because you can technically have your wealth memorized. You can memorize a string of charcters that allow you to bring money with you no matter where you go. NO government or other human can steal it from you (except through torture) but you can also easily not memorize it and instead distribute the keys throughout the world in opposing countries meaning even if you are attacked by one country you still have some wealth kept in another.

A store of wealth is what bitcion allows. True freedom from governments stealing your money because you have ideas which they do not agree with.

This in my mind is the main usage of bitcoin.

Other coins like stablecoins, or the btc lightning network have high value because they make transactions much cheaper as traditional banking systems are complex, error prone, and costly.

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

#112

Post by carshodev » Mon, Feb 23, 2026, 9:56 PM UTC

datatrashfire wrote: post #103

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.

the problem is as a means of cash it’s inferior to existing systems in pretty much every dimension. more expensive, slower, more risk, higher volatility. the cash story for crypto is not good.

This is incorrect, bitcoin is slower and more expensive, but bitcoin should not be used as cash, coins like stablecoins which direclty track US dollars or altcoins with lower fees should be used, the lightning network also is useful for transactions.

Bitcoin CAN be used as a store of wealth and the slowness actually makes it better as the slowness is part of the same process that makes it safer, harder to hack/takeover, and gives it value.

You should not look at all crypto as one thing.

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

#113

Post by carshodev » Mon, Feb 23, 2026, 10:03 PM UTC

BenGosub wrote: post #90

Is Iran supposed supposed to be banned on Binance?

Every US company/citizen is not allowed to do trade with Iran due to the ITSR laws except under highly specific situations.

It gets more complex if a company is multinational though.

A citizen can travel to Iran but even if they buy something there on holiday if they bring it back to the US they need to go through complex customs procedures to make sure its legally brought back in.

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

#114

Post by maest » Mon, Feb 23, 2026, 10:05 PM UTC

wpietri wrote: post #70

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.

It seems entirely accurate to me, at least in a POSIWID sense. The original theory of Bitcoin was, as described in the paper, decentralized digital cash. But in practice it was never optimized for what normal people use cash for. As system like that would be something like M-PESA. Even at the time, cash was declining in usage. In the 18 years since, it has declined a lot more. And for good reason, because what most p…

POSIWID = the Purpose Of the System Is What It Does.

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

#115

Post by carshodev » Mon, Feb 23, 2026, 10:06 PM UTC

jacobjjacob wrote: post #96

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!"

It’s 100% trackable. It’s anonymous but there are many datapoints that could be used to deanonymize if the transaction parties are not extremely careful

Exchanges are not anonymous at all though. They are directly linked to your identity as required by US law, but physical btc can be traded anonymously as its technically just a string of letters and numbers. You could transact with it through just telling someone this string if you trust them enough.

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

#116

Post by dylan604 » Mon, Feb 23, 2026, 10:06 PM UTC

cs702 wrote: post #105

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!"

It's also the #1 use case for $100 US dollar bills. Most US $100 bills, in fact, are not even in the US.[a][b] US $100 bills are the currency of choice for small-time crooks and evildoers around the world. They are also the currency of choice for big-time crooks and evildoers. Briefcases of US $100 bills have long been used for illicit payments, as depicted in numerous books and movies. Just because crooks and evildo…

> Just because criminals and evildoers use US $100 bills doesn't mean they are not useful and valuable to honest people too.

Like all of the ATMs near a dispensary that was always out of cash because 20 individual $20 bills runs out a lot faster than 4 $100 bills. Until dispensaries became legal, it was rare for me to see an ATM with anything other than $20s. Now, I see $20, $50, $100 dispensing machines regularly.

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

#117

Post by dylan604 » Mon, Feb 23, 2026, 10:08 PM UTC

torginus wrote: post #32

paxys wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Only because in this case they used a centralized exchange. The amount of actual circulation to countries like Iran and North Korea is likely many orders of magnitude higher that what is knowable.

I know some pretty sharp folks who fork for various police departments chasing illicit crypto related activity. The amount of stuff they can track including timing of transactions, entry and exit points, etc, and so over a long period of time means that most of the traditional anyonmization methods like tumblers simply do not work. Eventually someone, somewhere makes a mistake and the transactions and wallets can be…

> Anything you can do from your bedroom, police can track from theirs.

This is why I have tape covering my webcam and music blaring. Oh, wait, that's not what you meant.

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

#118

Post by [deleted] » Mon, Feb 23, 2026, 10:08 PM UTC

rwmj wrote: post #59

chihuahua wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

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

[deleted]

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

#119

Post by carshodev » Mon, Feb 23, 2026, 10:10 PM UTC

numbers_guy wrote: post #73

chihuahua wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Yes but we should be reminded that this also allows people to be protected from government overreach.

If you say something the Chinese government does not agree with they can choose to take all your money and control of your company instantly. Not just oligarchs although those are the bigger targets due to the high value.

Even a small business owner could THEORETICALLY have their assets and equity seized for saying something which goes against the current ruling party, and this is not specific to China it could happen in any modern country.

Crypto allow someone to distribute their wealth in a way where they can be free to speak their mind and still protected even if the country which their business is based out of decides to take action against them.

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

#120

Post by crazygringo » Mon, Feb 23, 2026, 10:10 PM UTC

cs702 wrote: post #105

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!"

It's also the #1 use case for $100 US dollar bills. Most US $100 bills, in fact, are not even in the US.[a][b] US $100 bills are the currency of choice for small-time crooks and evildoers around the world. They are also the currency of choice for big-time crooks and evildoers. Briefcases of US $100 bills have long been used for illicit payments, as depicted in numerous books and movies. Just because crooks and evildo…

There's a major distinction, however, in that it's a heck of a lot harder to safely and reliably lug briefcases or suitcases full of $100 bills from Chicago to Tehran, than it is to click and transfer some Bitcoin. Which is the whole point.