5 ms·

Monero founder outed as Interpol informant

38 points by cesarosum 4y ago

vishnumohandas 4y ago
Response: https://twitter.com/fluffypony/status/1638396003790249985 https://twitter.com/fluffypony/status/1638396003790249985
- cactusplant7374 4y ago
  > The accusations of a known scammer are clearly nonsensical and should not need refuting. Spagni stole money from a company, presumably to fund his crypto investments.
darkwater 4y ago
Looks like we are going to see this kind of investigations "asking GPT-4" to confirm or not assumptions just like we had "after a quick search on Google" for a few lusters.
- aww_dang 4y ago
  There's a new oracle in Delphi.
  - corbulo 4y ago
    What does one gift as tribute to the Oracle at Silicon Valley?
    - b1c1jones 4y ago
      Bitcoins
  - INTPenis 4y ago
    And it's huffing gas.
DoItToMe81 4y ago
I was curious until he started getting into technophrenology by "asking" ChatGPT for answers on why. He also does not explain how the asset tracing is even possible. Somehow, I trust the league of established papers on Monero weaknesses (none of which have successfully been used) than this.
PhilipRoman 4y ago
"outed as Interpol informant"? Really? No idea who this guy is but if I was in his situation I would also do the same. Accusing him of being an informant over this seems a bit extreme. It is a well known fact that various law enforcement/intelligence agencies will try to establish ties with people in such positions.
ashwagary 4y ago
>Monero founder Is he a founder? My understanding was that he became a supporter of Monero years after it was created by someone else.
- oboes 4y ago
  This was also my understanding. I think he became some kind of leader in the Monero community at some point, but he isn't the founder. I think Monero was originally forked from some other project (Bytecoin?).
lang_agnostic 4y ago
This asking GPT for inference needs to stop immediately before it becomes accepted and commonplace. This is almost the same as "I flipped a coin and the gods spoke to me"
- DoItToMe81 4y ago
  It's far worse, because people who should know better, people who should understand at least the very basics of how the underlying algorithm works, are deluding themselves into believing it's some kind of magical oracle.
  - aww_dang 4y ago
    It really isn't that far removed from the "anonymous sources" journalists cite or the slander levied on political undesirables at Wikipedia.
- marginalia_nu 4y ago
  Tangentially, I think there is essentially already the beginnings of a cult of AI, based around the promise of technological salvation from worldly toil with somewhat eschatological undertones. Just waiting for "Show HN: Repent, sell your house and car, invest everything into eternal-salvation.ai before it's too late and you're left in the dust as we ascend to the stars!"
roenxi 4y ago
The point of cryptocurrencies is that it doesn't matter how sketchy the founder is or how stupid there motives were. The ledger isn't under their control. It isn't all that unexpected that the Monero founder is weird and has a colourful backstory. He'd have to be odd to found a project like Monero. It is darkly funny if he was then trying to leverage his leadership position to directly scam people though.
- cactusplant7374 4y ago
  He stole money. I don't find that very colorful or weird. It's criminal. Why should such a person be given a US visa? [0] [0] https://www.coindesk.com/business/2021/09/22/riccardo-fluffypony-spagni-released-by-us-court-actively-working-on-return-to-south-africa/ https://www.coindesk.com/business/2021/09/22/riccardo-fluffy...
DueDilligence 4y ago
[dead]
come_at_me_bro 4y ago
[dead]

38 points by cesarosum 4y ago

Response: https://twitter.com/fluffypony/status/1638396003790249985 https://twitter.com/fluffypony/status/1638396003790249985

cactusplant7374 4y ago
> The accusations of a known scammer are clearly nonsensical and should not need refuting. Spagni stole money from a company, presumably to fund his crypto investments.

darkwater 4y ago

Looks like we are going to see this kind of investigations "asking GPT-4" to confirm or not assumptions just like we had "after a quick search on Google" for a few lusters.

aww_dang 4y ago
There's a new oracle in Delphi.
- corbulo 4y ago
  What does one gift as tribute to the Oracle at Silicon Valley?
  - b1c1jones 4y ago
    Bitcoins
- INTPenis 4y ago
  And it's huffing gas.

DoItToMe81 4y ago

I was curious until he started getting into technophrenology by "asking" ChatGPT for answers on why. He also does not explain how the asset tracing is even possible. Somehow, I trust the league of established papers on Monero weaknesses (none of which have successfully been used) than this.

PhilipRoman 4y ago

"outed as Interpol informant"? Really? No idea who this guy is but if I was in his situation I would also do the same. Accusing him of being an informant over this seems a bit extreme. It is a well known fact that various law enforcement/intelligence agencies will try to establish ties with people in such positions.

ashwagary 4y ago

>Monero founder Is he a founder? My understanding was that he became a supporter of Monero years after it was created by someone else.

oboes 4y ago
This was also my understanding. I think he became some kind of leader in the Monero community at some point, but he isn't the founder. I think Monero was originally forked from some other project (Bytecoin?).

lang_agnostic 4y ago

This asking GPT for inference needs to stop immediately before it becomes accepted and commonplace. This is almost the same as "I flipped a coin and the gods spoke to me"

DoItToMe81 4y ago
It's far worse, because people who should know better, people who should understand at least the very basics of how the underlying algorithm works, are deluding themselves into believing it's some kind of magical oracle.
- aww_dang 4y ago
  It really isn't that far removed from the "anonymous sources" journalists cite or the slander levied on political undesirables at Wikipedia.
marginalia_nu 4y ago
Tangentially, I think there is essentially already the beginnings of a cult of AI, based around the promise of technological salvation from worldly toil with somewhat eschatological undertones. Just waiting for "Show HN: Repent, sell your house and car, invest everything into eternal-salvation.ai before it's too late and you're left in the dust as we ascend to the stars!"

roenxi 4y ago

The point of cryptocurrencies is that it doesn't matter how sketchy the founder is or how stupid there motives were. The ledger isn't under their control. It isn't all that unexpected that the Monero founder is weird and has a colourful backstory. He'd have to be odd to found a project like Monero. It is darkly funny if he was then trying to leverage his leadership position to directly scam people though.

cactusplant7374 4y ago
He stole money. I don't find that very colorful or weird. It's criminal. Why should such a person be given a US visa? [0] [0] https://www.coindesk.com/business/2021/09/22/riccardo-fluffypony-spagni-released-by-us-court-actively-working-on-return-to-south-africa/ https://www.coindesk.com/business/2021/09/22/riccardo-fluffy...

DueDilligence 4y ago

[dead]

come_at_me_bro 4y ago

[dead]