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Arrested and Charged with Operating Notorious Darknet Cryptocurrency “Mixer”

16 points by mgh2 5y ago

OldGoodNewBad 5y ago
Isn’t this what Monero is? Edit: looks like people don’t like that I said this but can anybody explain how Monero isn’t fundamentally identical?
- saurik 5y ago
  No one is behind Monero in the sense of someone who "operates" a mixer: no one receives the money and then chooses to forget who you are and in exchange hands you someone else's money.
  - perl4ever 5y ago
    Wikipedia article on the subject says that peer-to-peer tumblers are a thing. I know nothing about it, just saying. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cryptocurrency_tumbler https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cryptocurrency_tumbler
    - saurik 5y ago
      But that is not what is going on in this article.
      - perl4ever 5y ago
        Another person raised the question of liability for working on decentralized mixers, a few hours before me: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27319240 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27319240 The distinction you made seems straightforward, but I don't see a reason to conclude the legal system will follow suit.
snypher 5y ago
Why would this person ever attempt travel to the US? It's interesting he was linked to MtGox/Liberty Reserve transactions from 10 years ago. He purchased 36 BTC for 100 euro. If he just sat on it, it would be worth a million bucks. Here's a link to the affidavit for some more info; https://www.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.dcd.230456/gov.uscourts.dcd.230456.1.1_1.pdf https://www.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.dcd.230456/...
- neither_color 5y ago
  Law enforcement uses commercial services offered by several different blockchain-analysis companies to investigate virtual currency transactions. These companies analyze the blockchain and attempt to identify the individuals or groups involved in the virtual currency transactions. Specifically, these companies create large databases that group transactions into “clusters” through analysis of data underlying the virtual currency transactions. Thanks for the link, that was a fascinating read. In case anyone was wondering how anonymous their crypto accounts really are, it's all out there being cross-referenced with any other big data social media and credit companies could use to identify you.
airhead969 5y ago
Isn't this the same FUD as calling BitTorrent a "notorious copyright infringement system?" Mixers / crypto and BitTorrent have legitimate purposes.
- perl4ever 5y ago
  If mixers have legitimate purposes, does that mean it is possible to use them legally? Like, how would you pay your taxes in the correct amount afterwards?
capnorange 5y ago
will they also go behind developers working on decentralized "Mixer"s like Wasabi/Joinmarket?

16 points by mgh2 5y ago

Isn’t this what Monero is? Edit: looks like people don’t like that I said this but can anybody explain how Monero isn’t fundamentally identical?

saurik 5y ago
No one is behind Monero in the sense of someone who "operates" a mixer: no one receives the money and then chooses to forget who you are and in exchange hands you someone else's money.
- perl4ever 5y ago
  Wikipedia article on the subject says that peer-to-peer tumblers are a thing. I know nothing about it, just saying. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cryptocurrency_tumbler https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cryptocurrency_tumbler
  - saurik 5y ago
    But that is not what is going on in this article.
    - perl4ever 5y ago
      Another person raised the question of liability for working on decentralized mixers, a few hours before me: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27319240 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27319240 The distinction you made seems straightforward, but I don't see a reason to conclude the legal system will follow suit.

snypher 5y ago

Why would this person ever attempt travel to the US? It's interesting he was linked to MtGox/Liberty Reserve transactions from 10 years ago. He purchased 36 BTC for 100 euro. If he just sat on it, it would be worth a million bucks. Here's a link to the affidavit for some more info; https://www.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.dcd.230456/gov.uscourts.dcd.230456.1.1_1.pdf https://www.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.dcd.230456/...

neither_color 5y ago
Law enforcement uses commercial services offered by several different blockchain-analysis companies to investigate virtual currency transactions. These companies analyze the blockchain and attempt to identify the individuals or groups involved in the virtual currency transactions. Specifically, these companies create large databases that group transactions into “clusters” through analysis of data underlying the virtual currency transactions. Thanks for the link, that was a fascinating read. In case anyone was wondering how anonymous their crypto accounts really are, it's all out there being cross-referenced with any other big data social media and credit companies could use to identify you.

airhead969 5y ago

Isn't this the same FUD as calling BitTorrent a "notorious copyright infringement system?" Mixers / crypto and BitTorrent have legitimate purposes.

perl4ever 5y ago
If mixers have legitimate purposes, does that mean it is possible to use them legally? Like, how would you pay your taxes in the correct amount afterwards?

capnorange 5y ago

will they also go behind developers working on decentralized "Mixer"s like Wasabi/Joinmarket?