U.S. insurrectionists received $500k in bitcoins from French donor • Hacker News Board

Re: U.S. insurrectionists received $500k in bitcoins from French donor

#71

Post by three_seagrass » Thu, Jan 14, 2021, 7:27 PM UTC

rchaud wrote: post #36

One thing wasn't highlighted in the alleged suicide note was the line 'we must secure the existence of our people and a future for our children'. That language should be a pretty clear indicator of where this person's politics lie, even without the 'fall of western civilization' rhetoric earlier. They always seem to use the same exact verbiage.

Well, it's not far off from some of the speeches at the insurrection last week either:

https://twitter.com/always_margot/status/1346578062700400647

Re: U.S. insurrectionists received $500k in bitcoins from French donor

#72

Post by stickfigure » Thu, Jan 14, 2021, 7:27 PM UTC

ajkdhcb2 wrote: post #33

I hope this will get attention. Just so more people will realise that bitcoin is dangerous to use and accept because it is not private. Even if youre doing nothing wrong, would you want to unintentionally receive funds linked to this?

> would you want to unintentionally receive funds linked to this?

Unequivocally, yes. Just don't expect to get them back.

Re: U.S. insurrectionists received $500k in bitcoins from French donor

#73

Post by thatguy0900 » Thu, Jan 14, 2021, 7:28 PM UTC

dieortin wrote: post #50

ajkdhcb2 wrote: post #33

I hope this will get attention. Just so more people will realise that bitcoin is dangerous to use and accept because it is not private. Even if youre doing nothing wrong, would you want to unintentionally receive funds linked to this?

You could also receive funds linked to terrorism if you’re using any other form of currency.

Those funds won't have an immutable public record anyone can study and observe in 5 years with other forms of currency

Re: U.S. insurrectionists received $500k in bitcoins from French donor

#74

Post by wavefunction » Thu, Jan 14, 2021, 7:28 PM UTC

vorpalhex wrote: post #52

matthewbauer wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Terrorism is "Premeditated, politically motivated violence perpetrated against noncombatant targets by subnational groups or clandestine agents, usually intended to influence an audience". Trying to coerce / kidnap / etc. Congress people sounds like terrorism. They don’t have to be successful.

> Terrorism is a form of warfare in which a social movement that opposes the state directs violence toward civilians rather than the military or the police. https://www.britannica.com/topic/collective-violence/Coups-r... Even your own definition doesn't apply - the insurrectionists weren't a subnational group (they don't have a cohesive identity other than sharing a common cause) or clandestine agents.

They definitely have a cohesive identity and are even organized in defined specialized identities like militias and Proud Boys. These are domestic terrorists and they attempted to overturn the fair and free elections in this country based on outright lies with NO evidence to support them and also kidnap and murder civilians, law enforcement and anyone else who stood in their way.

I and others have been following their discussions online and its clear that while not every single individual at the domestic insurrection at the US Capitol on January 6th seeks to murder and cause mayhem, many in the hundreds and thousands do. Many beyond that seek to downplay the danger and provide apologia for the criminal actions of terrorists they at least partially sympathize with.

Re: U.S. insurrectionists received $500k in bitcoins from French donor

#75

Post by ajkdhcb2 » Thu, Jan 14, 2021, 7:28 PM UTC

scintill76 wrote: post #60

ajkdhcb2 wrote: post #33

I hope this will get attention. Just so more people will realise that bitcoin is dangerous to use and accept because it is not private. Even if youre doing nothing wrong, would you want to unintentionally receive funds linked to this?

I suggest the problem is more about you knowing, or the public knowing, that the funds are linked to it. After all, some dollars you receive might have a sordid past, but there's not such an easy way for anyone to publicly demonstrate exactly what it was.

That is what I intended to imply

Re: U.S. insurrectionists received $500k in bitcoins from French donor

#76

Post by technonerd » Thu, Jan 14, 2021, 7:29 PM UTC

ajkdhcb2 wrote: post #33

I hope this will get attention. Just so more people will realise that bitcoin is dangerous to use and accept because it is not private. Even if youre doing nothing wrong, would you want to unintentionally receive funds linked to this?

Dangerous to use if you're not careful. I guess that is one of the many downfalls of not having secure defaults. Taproot and Schnorr are slowly coming to bitcoin. But would this blog post even exist if they had used a coinjoin/payjoin or lightning?

Re: U.S. insurrectionists received $500k in bitcoins from French donor

#77

Post by three_seagrass » Thu, Jan 14, 2021, 7:30 PM UTC

ajkdhcb2 wrote: post #69

SimonPStevens wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not sure of the point here, this seems a bit nonsensical. Do you avoid using cash too because criminals use it? Using or accepting Bitcoin is not dangerous because of this. And you have no more chance of unintentionally recieving funds linked to this than you have of unintentionally recieving cash used for criminal purposes. (Not intending to start an argument for or against Bitcoin, and there are other pros and…

Cash is private so it doesn't matter. When you pay with it, nobody knows where it came from. You can have extreme inconvenience for being linked to illegal bitcoin transactions.

Eh, I usually don't like comparing bitcoin to cash, but you can be inconvenienced with cash as well.

I had a roommate who had >$100K tied up into an online poker platform, which was frozen for months because the platform was doing some illegal activity.

Re: U.S. insurrectionists received $500k in bitcoins from French donor

#78

Post by ASalazarMX » Thu, Jan 14, 2021, 7:30 PM UTC

LatteLazy wrote: post #42

rchaud wrote: post #36

One thing wasn't highlighted in the alleged suicide note was the line 'we must secure the existence of our people and a future for our children'. That language should be a pretty clear indicator of where this person's politics lie, even without the 'fall of western civilization' rhetoric earlier. They always seem to use the same exact verbiage.

For those who don't know this reference... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fourteen_Words

It's disgusting how such primitive people can still exist in our modern world.

Yes, we have many people doing horrible things all over the world, but people being vile because their ancestors had less sun than others is a special kind of pointless stupidity.

Re: U.S. insurrectionists received $500k in bitcoins from French donor

#79

Post by adnzzzzZ » Thu, Jan 14, 2021, 7:30 PM UTC

redisman wrote: post #37

kristopolous wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I spend time on gab and parler (I'm not a believer, I'm just curious). It really looks like it's people who genuinely feel Joe Biden will be the end of america. They think the stock market will crash and dollars will be useless as Biden ushers in some kind of communism. From the volume of comments on the posts, there's quite many of them. This run will probably last as long as their finances allow. I don't think it'l…

Sometimes you just gotta wonder about some people. The most pro status-quo candidate in a generation is planning to take us to the dark ages?

If you believe the status-quo is taking you to the dark ages then it's not very crazy. And for the more rural portion of America that seems to be the case.

Re: U.S. insurrectionists received $500k in bitcoins from French donor

#80

Post by landryraccoon » Thu, Jan 14, 2021, 7:31 PM UTC

vorpalhex wrote: post #52

matthewbauer wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Terrorism is "Premeditated, politically motivated violence perpetrated against noncombatant targets by subnational groups or clandestine agents, usually intended to influence an audience". Trying to coerce / kidnap / etc. Congress people sounds like terrorism. They don’t have to be successful.

> Terrorism is a form of warfare in which a social movement that opposes the state directs violence toward civilians rather than the military or the police. https://www.britannica.com/topic/collective-violence/Coups-r... Even your own definition doesn't apply - the insurrectionists weren't a subnational group (they don't have a cohesive identity other than sharing a common cause) or clandestine agents.

Are you arguing that it is impossible for an individual acting alone to be a terrorist? I think even a small group of say 2-3 people under your definition could not be considered terrorists.