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DOJ Finally Going After The Criminal Masterminds With Arrest Of 24 Year-Old Bitcoin Exchange Founder
The US crackdown on Bitcoin has been long in coming, with ebbs and flows of enforcement as regulators have been unsure exactly how to proceed with dismantling the digital fiat alternative. This morning the ebb became a rising tide, after U.S. prosecutors announced charges against two men operating Bitcoin exchange businesses for attempting to sell $1 million worth of Bitcoin to users of the underground black market website Silk Road, which was shut down by authorities in September.
Reuters reports that the U.S. Attorney's office in Manhattan said in a statement that authorities arrested Charlie Schrem, chief executive officer of the exchange BitInstant.com, on Sunday and Robert Faiella, who ran an underground Bitcoin exchange called BTCKing, on Monday. The two were charged with conspiring to commit money laundering and operating an unlicensed money transmitting business. Schrem is also vice president of the main Bitcoin-focused trade group, the Bitcoin Foundation, according to the foundation's website and Schrem's LinkedIn profile.
Some details from the charge against the defendants:
Federal prosecutors charged Faiella, 52, and Shrem, 24, with engaging in a scheme to sell more than $1 million of Bitcoins to users of Silk Road. Each defendant was charged with conspiring to commit money laundering, which carries a maximum prison sentence of 20 years. They are additionally charged with operating an unlicensed money transmitting business, which has a max sentence of five years in prison.
The U.S. also charged Shrem with violating the Bank Secrecy Act by “willfully failing” to file suspicious activity reports on Faiella’s questionable transactions. This charge carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison.
In addition to the Manhattan U.S. Attorney, the charges were announced by the Drug Enforcement Agency and the criminal investigation division of the Internal Revenue Service.
“Hiding behind their computers, both defendants are charged with knowingly contributing to and facilitating anonymous drug sales, earning substantial profits along the way,” said DEA acting special-agent-in-charge James Hunt.
Schrem was apprehended by authorities at JFK International Airport in New York on Sunday and is set to appear in federal court in Manhattan later on Monday. Faiella was arrested at his Cape Coral, Fla., home on Monday and is expected to appear in federal court in the Middle District of Florida.
The court documents allege Faiella operated an underground Bitcoin exchange on the Silk Road website between December 2011 and October 2013 that sold the crypto currency to users who wanted to buy illegal drugs on the site. After receiving orders, he filled them through a New York company designed to enable customers to exchange cash for Bitcoins anonymously, the U.S. alleges.
Shrem served as the New York Bitcoin company’s CEO during much of that timeframe and was “fully aware that Silk Road was a drug-trafficking website” and that Faiella was operating an exchange service for Silk Road users, the documents say.
Prosecutors say Shrem still did business with Faiella to maintain a “lucrative source” of revenue. He personally processed Faiella’s orders, gave him discounts on high-volume transactions, failed to file a single suspicious activity report and even helped Faiella “circumvent” the company’s anti-money laundering policies, the documents allege.
Bharara said the investigation remains ongoing.
As a reminder, BitInstant, which at the time "aimed to be the go-to site" to buy and sell bitcoins, received a $1.5 million investment by Winklevoss Capital in May 2013. From the TechCrunch profile of the startup:
BitInstant, which has a full-time staff of 16 led by CEO Charlie Shrem, has emerged as a key player in the nascent Bitcoin market: The company already processes approximately 30 percent of the money going into and out of Bitcoin, and last month alone facilitated 30,000 transactions, the Winklevosses said in a phone call this week. The funding is meant to allow the company to further scale up its staff and product as it angles to become the go-to site for Bitcoin transfers.
The US charge is not a ringing endorsement for the premise behind the Winklevi investment:
The Winklevosses say they were attracted to invest in BitInstant in large part because of its leadership. CEO Shrem is the vice chairman of the Bitcoin Foundation, and CIO Alex Waters previously worked with the core developers on the original Satoshi Bitcoin client. “Charlie has been in the space for a very long time, and he has an impeccable reputation among Bitcoiners. He knows everyone in the space and everyone in the space knows him,” Cameron Winklevoss said. “One of the most exciting things about people who are into Bitcoin is that they’re a really passionate community, and Charlie is a passionate entrepreneur. He would be in that category of someone who lives, breathes, and sleeps Bitcoin.”
Perhaps. However, in retrospect Charlie's biggest crime was not being CEO of JPM or, at worst, HSBC, where money laundering and other criminal activity is not only encouraged but rewarded with soaring bonuses. The good news is that one can once and for all confirm that when it comes to "Justice" in the US, some - those who deal with legacy status quo mandated and enforced ponzi scheme fiat - are far more equal than anyone who dares to think outside the Fed's printer.
Finally, here is a recent profile of 24 year old "criminal mastermind" Schrem via Bitcoin Examiner.
Meet Charlie Shrem. He’s 23 years old and the co-owner of Evr, one of the most famous gastro pubs in Manhatan. The name might sound familiar, since we talked about this pub before, when it became one of the first establishments to receive Bitcoin as a payment for drinks and food in New York City.
But why is Charlie Shrem different from other crypto-millionaires? Because he is now a BitAngel, member of an investment group created to invest in Bitcoin startups. We’ve also talked about this group before here.
Today, whenever someone pays at Evr with digital coin, Shrem gets a little bit richer, but he’s using his money to help others. Everything started in 2011, when Bitcoin became more famous, he bought thousands of Bitcoins for about $20 each. He invested almost everything he had in what could have been a dangerous game. However, since then, the digital coin value has skyrocketed.
At Evr, with his business partner.
After his investment in the bar, he founded the exchange platform Bitinstant. “Infrastructure is what we need. We’ve got to build, build, build–financial software, exchanges, and different payment products”, says Charlie Shrem, who clearly followed his own advice and profited with it.
He might not have the same funds as big Silicon Valley investors, but he has turned into a Bitcoin angel anyway. “The early guys are the ones that run everything. In this space, how long you’ve been around matters”, explains the entrepreneur.
However, we would like to look at him and others and see some kind of Bitcoin ambassadors, the ones that are setting the example and showing how it’s possible to grow once you leave your fear behind and go deep into a new world like cryptocurrency. Because they show what Bitcoin is for real: an opportunity.
* * *
And now, please join us in a moment of solemn silence as we fondly recall the memory of all the HSBC bankers who were thrown in prison for aiding, abetting and profiting from laundering money with known global terrorists...
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+1 just for the avatar.
Forget it, man. Fonestar is only here to keep the Ponzi going for awhile longer.
Fonestar pumping biti-coins is like listening to some kanye west song over and over again. Hes a genius ya know!
And, because of that you should listen to it a lot so you "Get it"
You guys are arguing over semantics. The only thing that matters is that all mediums of exchange rely on other people being willing to accept them. The difference between money and currency? Give me a break, how about the difference between cats and felines while we are at it?
willing to accept them like pay some dweeb like you more than you paid for it? Keep holding till you hit your price target!
Yes anything that appreciates in value is a scam. The trolls sure are out today to rally around the DOJ arresting another innocent person.
Except that in the USA, you do NOT have the legal right to refuse to accept Dollars in settlement of debts. It is very much not a matter of you're being willing to accept them or not. And if you think i'm kidding, educate yourself about the Gold Reserve Act of 1934, and the part where it _invalidated_ the gold clauses in contracts, ex post facto.
The courts will not enforce a debt if you will not accept settlement in 'legal tender' AKA paper (fiat) money.
It wouldn't work otherwise.
Ummm, what "wouldn't work otherwise"? Yes, fiat money would not work without legal tender laws. That was my only point - that it is not money by "mutual agreement", unlike gold or BTC.
I'm not issuing debt to anyone nor am I planning on doing so. I can certainly refuse to accept dollars for any goods or services I have. Also not everyone lives in the USA. If things get dystopian enough to where the governments are going to try and dictate peer 2 peer transactions then maybe a lot of the ZH end of the world guys one heres dreams will begin to come true.
If things get dystopian enough to where the governments are going to try and dictate peer 2 peer transactions... -- digi
What do you mean, if? That's ultimately the point of crypto currencies -- they make it possible by requiring peer to peer transactions be mediated digitally... The anonymity of face to face cash or barter transactions are what is being attacked.
Gold and Silver (copper and lead) are assets. (tangible things you can hold, they have no intrinsic value)
$,£ E's etc are Legal Tender (only Legal Tender is acceptable as payment of taxes (this is their only value))
Currencies are mediums of exchange, a currency has no value except at the time of trade
Legal Tenders can be used as currency because of convenience
Governments like to promote Legal Tenders as Currency because as sole issuers of Legal Tender they can be the beneficiaries of counterfiefting (monetary expansion)
Right,
I guess if I use degrading terms like pussy, cunt, fuckers, I can be a cool kid like you.
Tell mom to heat up another Hot Pocket and the Capri Sun is getting low.
Fix it again, Tony.
You're right, I'm too stupid to trust storing my wealth into an algorithim with an unknown source, with value only represented in 1's and 0's dependent on a fully functioning grid (both internet and power), that I stupidly pour all my excess IOU's into physical metals. I guess you could say that I'm dumber than dirt in that I store my wealth in something that dirt holds.
I mean one way of looking at it is you are sort of like a crazy guy collecting shiny rocks, but the good news is there are a lot more even crazier peoples collecting dirty pieces of green cloth and trying to convince their bankers banker to increment the arbitrary value in their bank account.
I like you fonestar--zh would be less interesting w/out you.
fonestar is a virtual man of passion.
fonestar is a one-trick pony, a fucking broken record, with NOTHING to add beyond "BTC is awesome dude and you're just too dumb to understand." Today one of his heros is one the verge of getting tossed in a cell for a l o n g time and he's back to let us know just how dumb WE are, again.
How does this man's imprisonment effect Bitcoin whatsoever? It doesn't.
Bitcoin will depend on people who will never speak English (and will never need to learn English), don't give a fuck about the Super Bowl. Some of them are not born yet and others are just being born now.
Slow down with the visionary stuff some of these folks can't see past their noses.
As Ponzi schemes go, Bitcoin is fucking genius. As digital currencies go, it is a whole lotta nuthin'.
Ponzi or not, still pissing off the govt and controlling associates.
BTC and legalization of Cannibis; similar.
Both are making federal agencies not know wether to shit or go blind.
I consider both movements beneficial to the commoner and involved in neither.
Additionallly, donate to NSA's hanging: http://offnow.org/support/
Utah may be our fulcrum. Weigh in.
People having visions always kinda worries me.
A bit like people hearing voices.
Visionary types are only legitimately declared as such by history.
Acolytes are rarely good judges.
'They' are letting you know that whenever 'they' want, 'they' can and will find you if 'they' feel you are a threat.
I have nothing against you personally (I actually like your enthusiasm) I'm just pointing out what we all know - the Fed and the Banks are not going to give up their monopoly on free money/interest/rehypothecation schemes without a fight. Good luck.
You will lose.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2c3Y2i-1mD0
fonemeister...how many bitcoins will it take to clean up fukushima?
This is the real take away. It has nothing to do with BC. Just like closing down the silk road had nothing to do with the activities taking place as they had been active there for quite awhile. Its a show of power.
Don't steal. The government hates competition.
How's Redtube been these days?
plant
Photosynthesis
More fun with word assiciation. Let's play some more.
A virtual man? WTF? you gave up on trying to be a real man cause it was too hard?
Meanwhile.................
Some adults won't get Bitcoin. That's too bad. But you better believe that the young will get it. And there are 3 entrepreneurial tweens (sisters aged 13, 12 & 10) who already get it and have written a 3 book primer under the title "Bitcoin For Kids".
It is available in eBook form on their website- http://bitkidz.com/bitcoinforkids/. Book 1: Putting Money In Kids’ Hands Today For A Better Tomorrow; Book 2: How To Earn, Save, Spend and Share Bitcoin; Book 3: Wise Words From the World’s Best Bitcoiners.
Pricing?-
"[Click here to buy with fiat currency on Amazon, $2.99] [Buy with Bitcoin for only $1.99]"
or-
"Best Deal: Buy The Trilogy Only $5.97 (Bitcoin) $7.97 (Fiat)".
Each payment option given has a "Pay with Bitcoin" click through button underneath it- Yep, these kids already have their bitcoin merchant account set up(through Mom) with Coinbase.com.
Does the book show them how to farm, can, trap, fish, make shelter and methods for making water drinkable ?
Oddly enough it doesn't but I see there is a chapter on how to do a basic gold assay. It starts with a warning about how dangerous it can be.
How do you assay Bitcoin, pray tell?
Does this seem logical:
'determination' = 'confirmation' ? You tell me! lol
1 blockchain confirmation (if that's the right term) gives you .9 gold assay equivalent, 2 gives you .99, 3 gives .999, 4 gives 4 9's, 5 5 9's, 6 gives you weapons grade!?! ; )
I teach what little I know about farming to my kids too. no canning yet. WTF
Don't let those kids get ripped off, put a stop to that. You have no idea what you are dealing with. There's a reason why Bitcoin is targeted at young people and hint hint, it's not to enrich any of those young people.
When this all falls apart, the psychological fallout is going to be heavy indeed.
Oh! Oh! Put a stop to that! Save the Children!
HA, HA, HA, HA.
Yep, lets just stay with the status quo, where 90% of Americans under 40 have no future financially, economically, politically, or ecologically. The psychological fallout of that is already here.
Oh wait, there is one thing they are allowed to do- build dusty stacks of gold & silver coins, the value of which is completely under control of the Ownership.
i have a simmilar feeling of keeping my son away from bitcoin as I would a known pedophile
Do they also sell x-ray glasses? I see a bright future ahead for these youngsters in the banking industry.
It's fluffy, not stuffy.
It's a stock. Just like a stock, you can print off the amont of shares/bitcoins you hold. Also, like a stock, you don't hold it. If you cannot hold it, you don't own it.
From the parts that makes sense, I can confirm that you are wrong. While you can have shares of stock issued to you and hold them in your possession rather than street name, it's kind of pointless. You *can* print (issue more) stock, but *cannot* print more Bitcoin.
Many will be disheartened to learn that they do not own their homes since they can't hold them.
Anyone who thinks they own their homes are truly delusional.
You own nothing.
You just pay to use what you think you own.
You don't even own your body. The government can take it away from you whenever they feel like it.
You don't even own your body. The government can take it away from you whenever they feel like it. -- logicalman
Really? Well my body will be useless by the time they get it. A few of theirs may be useless as well. Oh well, the worms will rejoice.
I could print 123 btc but the blockchain says I got way less. You cannot pretend to have more than you actually have.
I could put 1.23 BTC in a brainwallet, it's even better than hiding in your wallet (when crossing borders)
Yesterday I also read a story about counterfeit gold coins (at FOFOA) my stomach turned,...
I was happy to know that counterfeiting a BTC is far more complicated than counterfeiting a BTC
"I was happy to know that counterfeiting a BTC is far more complicated than counterfeiting a BTC"
Typo or some statement about the meaning of life?
It's an important clue to the level of brain function of a bitcoinista.
Freudian Slip meets Cognitive Dissonance.
It's two, two mints in one!
"It is a currency!"
Not for long. Maybe that could be the solution. Start a btc, membership required, "club" and call them shares, chits, coupons, or something that sounds harmless. Or, probably the wiser thing, go into hiding.
"It is a currency!"
Maybe for Fonestar and his herd Bitcoin - is the currency. But for me Bitcoin - it's just new crap of the Fed.
According to probbaly the best Bitcoin presentation I have ever watched, it's NOT a currency..it's a platform.
Platform is a good thought, system, network, currency and virtual commodity.
It is everything, but it is nothing. How many of these scams have I had to endure over the years? You would think that after Madoff, which had so much more apparent legitimacy around it, that people would be suspicious, but no. The techie angle has overwhelmed the skeptical angle completely! This one will go down in history and the sad part is that we may never get to a real digital currency because of what will be perpetrated.
Virtual commodity. Classic. yes fonestar, virtual, like a girlfriend. Things that you willl have to find on a digital platform and pay for, with your biti-coins.
Your density will pop you to her.
It's a ledger that no one can manipulate. You have an ID number on one side and an account balance on the other, that is all. If you can't see the value in a distributed ledger with no centrel authority then I can't help you.
spare me your drivel. Pump your digi ponzi to people who cant think for themselves.
All these biti-coin ponzi pumpers trying to pump up the price. Pathetic. Bitcoin to $10,000 derrrr.
How about you get a real job and a life and produce something.
There is no value, just a scam. That is all.
Oh wait I just got it, the biti-coin boy fantasy virtual world, millions of skinny pimple faced 30 years olds living with their parents cashing in their $10,000 each. Rich beyond their wildest dreams because the got in eary on their "currency."
Finally women will want to date you.
Bullish for BTC after reading that , thanks man,.
silverserfer,
Funny how many are guessed to fit in certain profiles.
Try profiling silver junkies, can't wait to read it.
Why, because silverbugs are fewer and father between than BTC junkies.
C'mon all you metal heads, BTCers are AGAINST mainstain 'tard mentality.
The govt does NOT approve.
This is good, more are saying "Srew the system"
throughout the history of Man silver is anhonest store of value. I am big on having my labor be exchanged for honesy money. For anyone who is interested in building a legacy, saving money is central. The charade that is going on with the price right now is a blip on a larger timeline.
The US military is #1 silver user, all this price supression is transitory and should be taken advantage of. in 25 years things will be a lot diffrent than they are now. Certian realities (energy and labor) will have set in that will force scarce commodities to carry their value.
"Pump your digi ponzi to people who cant think for themselves."
Well you see I was trying to help you out since you appear to be one of these people who can't think for themselves, problem is you don't appear to want to let others think for you either so I'm not sure what you really want. Just to reiterate though incase maybe you have a mental breakthrough or something, people have been sending large amounts of value across the globe in under an hour with no 3rd parties using bitcoin, but please feel free to go around screaming your head off from the rooftops that such an unheard of level of transactional ability is completely worthless and without value, certainly a scam. I mean it must be right? Since you don't understand it.
yeah totaly, like some bustling marketplace for goods and services. right.
Not more like a bunch of fraudsers trying to trade hot money and chase profits. I'm sure its a network of real hardworking induviduals who just want a stable medium of exchange. and world peace. and for people stop cutting down trees, and feed the children.
i mean if they were all classy induviduals like fonestar then I might be convinced.
But i see a lot of overweight bearded men from eastern europe wearing knitted sweaters and sweatpants named peggy.
Proud graduate: Financial Decision Making 101
Um, it's a ledger whose underlying code will eventually need a patch to accomodate the scalability issue, and even the most diehard fans admit that.
The scarier concern ought to be that the majority of the holders get to vote on the specific patch. And who hold the majority (by far)? A handful of early miners/adopters. (total number of bitcoin days destroyed) / (the total number of bitcoin days) is an equation that makes that much crystal clear.
The ensuing argument is that those holders have a dissincentive to screw their pooch, but this assumes that they cannot undetectably screw your pooch and in the process obscur what you think you are seeing. We then depend on how long it takes someone to find a flaw in that new code - and the new code doesn't have to be a simple add-on patch. By that time your investment (and that's what it is) might go poof. How long did it take programmers to find actual and potential backdoors in the code's parents and grandparents and great grandparents?
Not saying that will happen; only that it can. Some cool papers out of Cornell on that recently. The "selfish miner" research becoming passe but still very much relevant.
You are making a wrong assumption about 'the code' and 'a patch'. There no 'the code' - there is a defined protocol and quite a number of separate implementations of some code (often private), where each implementation conforms to the defined protocol.
Anyone can run any kind of code they like... but the majority of the miners will reject inputs to the bitcoin network that fail to comply with the protocol.
SO ... any 'patch' will be to the protocol - and that is an open transparent process, which is continously debated on the developer mailing list and IRC channels. Anyone can follow or contribute to the discussion.
There nearest thing to 'the code', is the reference 'bitcoind' and 'bitcoin-qt' programs. Most miners use some variant of those programs. But not everyone and no one is forced to use those particular programs.
What needs to be under scrutiny is the bitcoin protocol definition ...and that is heavily watched... even by JustUsChickensHere..
I see the the value in a distributed ledger with no centrel authority, but the thugs could easily ban businesses from accepting it.
Government ink on paper is 'worth' something - Joe Smith ink on paper is a crime.
They both have the same intrinsic value, but the monetary 'Godfathers' have the guns and goons to use 'em.
That's a big flaw.
They can ban one and another would pop up the next day. Then they could blanket ban the whole idea and it wouldnt stop the 500+ Billion dollar 'illegal' drug industry from making use of the technology, government ink on paper never seemed to have much effect on that crowd.
Can he pay his lawyer bill in Bitcoins?
Yes.
It's dangerous to be a fanboi of either fiat, gold, or btc. All are a means to an end, and are all tools that accomplish similar, but different things.
That's why we hold a little bit of everything. The morons who are trolloing, are just that.
Nope, not a currency. Not issued by any govt or central bank, a requirement for a currency. Same reason gold and silver aren't currencies anymore.
It's more like a barter credit, similar to barter credits used in organized barter pools a while back ...which I believe eventually shut down, not sure why, maybe govt hassle, maybe lack of interest, maybe both.
And bitcoin's spectactular rise in value is solely from it's use for illegal purchases, evading govt reporting, evading taxes, evading capital controls, money laundering, etc.
If bitcoin wasn't used for those illegal purposes its value would still be under $1.
No they can't go after bitcoin, but they can go after people using it, as this article demonstrates. Eventually ownership and use of bitcoin will be a crime, just like ownership and use of drugs is a crime now.
The ruling class doesn't like bitcoin, they'll figure out how to go after people using it. Count on it.
That's a big load of bullshit , Silk Road accounted for less than 5% of all transactions , bitcoin's use increased after the site was taken down , bitpay have been registering thousands of new legimtimate online and B&M retailers. People have purchased trips on Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic , if you want to find a currency used by criminals the US Dollar is the favorite.
If you think silk road was the only place bitcoin was used for illegal activity you're crazy. Evading taxes and capital controls is far bigger.
Yes cash dollars are used for those things too, but bitcoin makes those things far easier to do. That's why govts don't like it, and what govts don't like they figure out how to criminalize sooner or later.
Bitcoin is more difficult to use than a credit or debit card, so govt assumes the only reason for using it is some illegal transaction, and their assumption is correct in many cases, enough cases to justify outlawing bitcoin and similar things, which will happen eventually, govts are so predictable, and your ideological arguments in support of bitcoin won't make any difference.
If you don't like govts having so much control, then have your revolution and eliminate all that control.
Using a black market barter tool is a cowardly copout.
When are you going to cease your inane banging on about "revolution"? When has revolution ever resulted in less government control? Once, in 1215, and a second time in 1776. But neither one lasted.
Are you blind? I'm saying revolution won't happen, "patriots" are sheep, guns but no guts. It's consistent in all my comments on that subject.
I never said anything about a revolution. Bitcoin is to fiat what the jet engine is to a propeller engine or a an email to a posted letter. I have no political affiliations , bitcoin is a disruptive technology you can like it or lump it you cannot stop the future either way I really don't give a flying fuck. Move back into a cave or a mud hut for all I care but digital currency is here to stay now - technology does not move backwards it moves forwards it's a bad bet to bet against technology even the governements know that ..
BitCoin is both an asset(valueless) and a currency(valued at trade).
BitCoin is not yet 'Legal Tender', you can't pay your taxes in it so in the US you would have to sell BitCoins to buy Dollars to pay the Government.
The Government(of any country) doesn't like BitCoin for two reasons.
1. The Government can't see any way to levy transactional taxes
2. The Government can't issue free BitCoins to itself to spend into the economy unlike USD (BitCoins are issued by an external authority, the algorithm)
The actions taken are the visible signs of a frightened Government, one that doesn't Govern by the will of the people (otherwise the people would reject BitCoin) but by force at the cost of the people.
I haven't got any BitCoins, I have nothing, but I find it interesting that Your Government spends Your Money defending its interests over Yours (are all Yanks masochists ?)
Yet , Yet and Yet .............
protocol
The DOJ allowed you to make one more post I see.
I agree... isn't it wonderful to see what pussies Americans have turned into?
There you go again, "everyone who doesn't use Bitcoin is a pussy." Your brilliance is overwhelming.
No, it's the fact that they have scared themselves into inaction based upon what their government could do.
biti-coins to da moooooooon derrrrr!
"currency"
what kind of limp wristed bathtime boy sits on a "currency" in hopes of making money on more fools paying more for them?
Perhaps the same fools who buy gold & silver ?
spoken like a brainwashed "investor"
Saving real money is something the FED has been trying really hard to get people to stop doing. "If your smart you would be investing."
No! your just buying into the ponzi. Holding your wealth in PM's is savings and a no vote to the banking elite.
The only real fucking vote you will have in your life.
Wake the fuck up!!
Take it easy on him, he's a "virtual man"; not sure what that is, but you be hate criming; you know, like calling trannies faggot bitches?
A very unfortunate development for sure, but hardly unexpected.
Not unfortunate at all. Your country and its laws are ending.... not Bitcoin or P2P technology.
Someone's all hopped up on goofballs this morning.
I've been here giving support to Bitcoin at $50 and I will be here at $500,000.
Thanks for supporting my point.
While mom is out restocking the Capri Sun, better tell her your meds are low.
This blog is supposed to be the awakened opposition?
Pathetic.
ya, your diluting the conversation.
Diddnt you ever want anything more out of life?
Guess what, you don't HAVE to be on this blog with all us ignorant, un-satisfactory people. You could GO AWAY! Really; go ahead, try it; JUST LEAVE.
this is the most attention that fonestar has ever received in his life. Ever.
One day yes, he might have a girlfriend. But untill then ZH is his companion. Any attention is better than no attention.
Fonestar, between Bitcoin and human stupidity have something in common. This lack of limits.
Limit of separation on the parts (limit of depreciation) for Bitcoin - it is infinity.
And the limits of human stupidity - is also infinity!
Long live the new infinite money for people with infinite stupidity!
Please explain how it is not unfortunate.
In a nutshell, because all laws against Bitcoin and Bitcoin-based businesses will prove futile. So the laws wind up degrading the law maker's authority and esteem.
And Satoshi said unto them, "in my weakness lay my strength!"
I guess there is just no reasoning with someone as delusional as you. Good luck with that.
maybe it's not the coin they're going to attack, but the movement in & out of the FeRN, cuz that's where the Law is most definitely not futile.
satoshi said (actually wrote) a lot of things -- that was not one of them. here's two:
The software is not at all resistant to DoS attack. This is one improvement, but there are still more ways to attack than I can count.
This isn’t the kind of software where we can leave so many unresolved bugs that we need a tracker for them.
The software is not at all resistant to DoS attack. This is one improvement, but there are still more ways to attack than I can count.
Idiot translation: Individual nodes are not resistant to DoS attacks , however there are now 5 million nodes globally , nobody has the capability to deploy such a globally distributed Dos attack , you would have to hijack every PC on the planet.
This isn’t the kind of software where we can leave so many unresolved bugs that we need a tracker for them.
Idiot translation: The software has been de-bugged to point where the code has so few (or no) bugs that they do not need a tracker for them
and that idiot may just be the hundredth idiot that adopts to make you a rich man.
too bad you just called him or her an idiot. oh well.
Hey man you decide if you want to adopt or not , don't let me decide for you .... It's YOUR call .
sorry don't do ASICs
Well I don't do fuckin BSICs .......
well then perhaps your time is better spent amongst the annointed C++'s and leaves us BSIC's alone.
Currency which is not recognized by the authorities of China and Russia - the currency of fools.
Fonestar, your wackness is your strength.
Hey man I am not fonestar ,
no but you look like him...
and this is fightclub!
More like the 'golden rivet'.
BTC meets Bubba.
But unless this is a psyop, it does answer the question about whether
BTC was TPTB's own creature.
It might actually be good for BTC.
And again hidden advertising Bitcoin! Every second article in the network - it is a hidden advertisement biktoin in one form or another. I'm sick of the word Bitcoin!
In Russia began an active propaganda against Bitcoin, by the state. And it makes me very happy. I personally spent a lot of effort for this.
You are on the Russian government's payroll?
No, I do not receive a salary from the government of Russia. I do not even live in Russia. But I'm free to speak and write in Russian.
So I wrote several articles for popular Russian blogs, about the dangers of Bitcoin and hidden dangers from use Bitcoin for Russia's economy.
glad too see that you took some time out of your busy day of rocket riding to comment here.
@fonestar This must be a serious butt-ache for your newfound bitcoin wealth.
Must.. not... allow... competition.
"Hey! You can't launder money and sell drugs! That's what the government is for!
Now, put your hands on your head and let me read you your rights."
I read what I just typed a few times and it's like receiving steady jabs of irony until my legs are wobbly.
I guess Jamie Dimon decided he couldn't buy it out, so time to destroy it.
Will Shrem's legal team take bitcoin as payment for services rendered..??
DOJ - Department of Jerking-Off
"Hiding behind his computer" I feel a William Banzai picture coming soon,
attaboy holder, way to get out there and "do your job"
Think of all the little fish they had to go through to nail these whales to the wall. Let it be a warning to all other wrongdoers out there, the DOJ will always find justice.
The NSA has the DOJ's and the IRS's backs you can bet on it.
There's a very high ratio between financial criminals (convicted or otherwise) and certain people....
I wonder if they were "chosen" to be criminals.
money laundering? isn't that a bit of a double standard seeing as how all the big banks are doing it too?
Have they determined Bitcoin to be money? I don't recall the govt making that determination.
As far as I can tell, people who are purchasing BTC are buying computer code, not money. If people choose to trade that code for goods and services, what's illegal about that? As long, of course, that they pay their fair share of taxes.
Rest easy kid, Warren Buffett will still hire you AND Jamie Dimon.
And give you both a raise !
Rat bastards. Fuck you government. FREEDOM!
I was waiting for this guy to show up yesterday as the key_Note speaker at the Maimi Bitcoin Conference..well that explains that......
Sounds safe and secure. Store my hard-earned wealth in an algorithm designed by a phantom or the NSA and conduct transactions through a service run by a 24 year old stoner "CEO". Ha!
Yeah; what could go wrong? I better sell those silver bars right away and give all the money to this hopped up pimply faced progammer. Their only enemy is the US Govt.? well, shit; that's nothing. they ain't got nothin. any teenage programmer can beat up on the us Govt., hell yeah.
Nope , diversify your FRN's between them silver bars gold coins and digital currency , diversification , hell yeah .
Hey you hapless gumshoes!
Where the fuck is Jon Corzine - you worthless dicks?!?!
Hmmmm. It would be a leap to say that news like this makes me sexually aroused. Let's just say that it warms the cockolds of my heart. Still no offical word on whether there will be a criminal prosecution. I think that if Holder says that he won't do it, then it opens the question as to why - you know - FOIA requests. As long as he son't so "yes or no" then it is still under investigation and hence not subject for outside inquisition. It is otherwise know as the Attorney General of the United Statews of America engaging in obstruction of justice.
Corzine Loses Bid for Dismissal of CFTC’s MF Global SuitBy Christie Smythe and Patricia Hurtado Jan 21, 2014 3:54 PM ET
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-01-21/corzine-loses-bid-for-dismissal...
Cockles. Cockles of your heart.
Disgusting tiny shellfish eaten by Englishmen,
Cuckolds of my heart is an entirely different mattering thing...
I was my Ex.'s cuckold until I found out.
It gave the "Millers Tale" by Chaucer I had to read in High School a whole new meaning.
LOL!
"The Blue Cloak", the original title of Pieter Bruegel the Elder's painting illustrating Netherlandish Proverbs.
The man in the Blue Cloak in the lower left center of the image is the man being cuckolded by his Wife.
The full size image "identified as one of the finest images on the English Wikipedia, adding significantly to its accompanying article" is worth close inspection. All hold true today, and this was painted nearly 500 years ago.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Netherlandish_Proverbs
Facilitating drug trade with-out paying the vig to the fiat cartel.
I thought that carried the death penalty.
Despite the name of the American system of "Justice", it is not a system of "Justice" but a system of "legality." MAJOR difference!
“Hiding behind their computers, both defendants are charged with knowingly contributing to and facilitating anonymous drug sales, earning substantial profits along the way,” said DEA acting special-agent-in-charge James Hunt.
When you try to muscle in on the banker's and the fed's turf, you feel the full force of the state.