KickAss owner was using Coinbase as his bitcoin wallet!!!!!

[lol lol]

TL;DR; Feds pose as an advertised on KAT.CR and finally find the bank account associated with this torrent website and in the process Apple, Facebook, GoDaddy and coinbase helped in finding the owner that lead to his arrest.

More recent records show that an IP-address linked to KAT’s Facebook page was also used to access Vaulin’s Coinbase account, suggesting that the Bitcoin wallet also assisted in the investigation.

https://torrentfreak.com/can-kickasstorrents-make-a-comeback-160721/

the strangest part of this is using Coinbase as bitcoin wallet which i don't really get. WHY 

[eternalgloom]

Yeah I was pretty baffled as well when I read that article, he didn't even try to really hide himself.
Was just buying songs from Itunes using the same IP address (LOL).

You should know that the US will come after you when you're running a site like that.

[xdrpx]

It's kind of strange that Artem Vaulin had not atleast tried to stay anonymous while logging into their own website or onto other websites. Basically his IP addresses were handed over by Facebook and Apple (logging into iTunes using the same IP). Also according to Coinbase it's clear from their User Agreement that :

By opening a Coinbase Account, you confirm that you will not use Coinbase Services in connection with any of following businesses, activities, practices, or items:

• Intellectual Property or Proprietary Rights Infringement: Sales, distribution, or access to counterfeit music, movies, software, or other licensed materials without the appropriate authorization from the rights holde

Despite this, the owner shouldn't have used Coinbase to receive Bitcoin donations to a Coinbase wallet.

[Yakamoto]

I find this more bizarre than anything right now, as enternalgloom said it didn't even really look like he was trying to hide himself and was more just existing on the internet and not doing anything to hide any of his identity.

I'm also confused as to why he was using Coinbase as a wallet, considering that his funds could have been frozen. I'm not sure what he was trying to do at all.

[gentlemand]

How long had it been running for? Feels like forever to me. It's common human behaviour to become fat and careless when something's been running smoothly for long enough. And I guess enough pirates have decided in their own mind that they're not doing anything wrong.

[thejaytiesto]

I just don't get all those people running big things getting caught in the most stupid of ways. If you are going to run something that's at least dodgy to say the least, you better take extra measures of privacy. I mean on this era of tor and vpn where its so easy to be anonymous, why don't those guys do any better? geez.

[QuestionAuthority]

An American law enforcement agency arrested someone in Poland and confiscated all of his equipment.

This just proves that the rest of the world is America's bitch. We own all of you muthafuckas.

[carlisle1]

He is using coinbase instead of the much more secured wallet that I know which is the blockchain . And how to stupid is that he doesn't kept his anonymity did he just setup himself to get arrested ? Lmao . Or maybe coinbase provides a big help for the operation .

[helloeverybody]

It sounds like the kick ass torreents owner should have done some more research on how to store bitcoins and how not to give away all your details.  Thats some fairly rookie mistakes hes made,  easily could have been avoided.

[mayax]

same as most of BTC unlicensed exchangers. they are running their illegal biz like everything would be legal and they scream with the Feds shut down their websites...

[isvicre]

same as most of BTC unlicensed exchangers. they are running their illegal biz like everything would be legal and they scream with the Feds shut down their websites...

Why are you pushing regulation and stricter controls all the time? What country are you from that you have such blind trust in your government?

I'd really like to know,  for context.

[Wendigo]

I find it hilarious that a lot of Torrent trackers advertise using VPN services in order to stay anonymous while downloading torrents and not get tracked by the feds and yet the owner of Kickass was too lazy to get a simple VPN up and running to cover his tracks online. He most probably had a Coinbase account because he must have been exchanging coins to fiat for spending I guess.

[romani245]

This is reason #564 not to use Coinbase. They will hit the door running to drop the dime on you.

[mayax]

same as most of BTC unlicensed exchangers. they are running their illegal biz like everything would be legal and they scream with the Feds shut down their websites...

Why are you pushing regulation and stricter controls all the time? What country are you from that you have such blind trust in your government?

I'd really like to know,  for context.

I don't trust any gov BUT the unlicensed exchangers are a plague.

regulation = rules

rules = hard to be scammed(yes, it's possible but harder)

unlicensed exchangers = high risk(see MT Gox and others who ran with the clients money without any issue)  
they bring the shit all over e-currency industry. legal businesses suffer because of their unfair competition;the 80% BTC black market is due to them, their NO KYC/AML, no audits is gathering all the scammers/hackers and so on.

high risk = the banks do not want to work with you

no banks = no money, no honey

[isvicre]

same as most of BTC unlicensed exchangers. they are running their illegal biz like everything would be legal and they scream with the Feds shut down their websites...

Why are you pushing regulation and stricter controls all the time? What country are you from that you have such blind trust in your government?

I'd really like to know,  for context.

I don't trust any gov BUT the unlicensed exchangers are a plague.

regulation = rules

rules = hard to be scammed(yes, it's possible but harder)

unlicensed exchangers = high risk(see MT Gox and others who ran with the clients money without any issue)  
they bring the shit all over e-currency industry. legal businesses suffer because of their unfair competition;the 80% BTC black market is due to them, their NO KYC/AML, no audits is gathering all the scammers/hackers and so on.

high risk = the banks do not want to work with you

no banks = no money, no honey

Okay I can understand this point of view. In some of your posts you are using the terms unlicensed and illegal interchangeably so I just wanted to clarify. Could it not be that an exchange is operating without a license but in a country it the law is not strictly defined?

[ivanst776]

Seems that there is No privacy for coinbase users, they are spying on people, but if the KickAss owner was using hardware wallet like trezor and ledger can they still track him and their users? Btw how apple helped to track this guy?

[erikalui]

I don't find it wrong for Coinbase to take care of who the owner is as if anyone is dealing with illegal trades and transactions, they cannot be just let free and Coinbase is strict in this regard. I too feel that users should have some kind of privacy but not misuse it by making bitcoins and the users look bad.

[Steinar]

Why would he do this?

Sounds so crazy to not use your own bitcoin wallets.

Coinbase???

He's crazy!

[Kprawn]

Why would he do this?

Sounds so crazy to not use your own bitcoin wallets.

Coinbase???

He's crazy!

The only logical reason in my opinion would be that he did not know that Coinbase seem to function as a honey pot or that Coinbase enabled him to buy from certain services. I think some services

only except payment, if you work through regulated exchanges. {Example : Steam } He was very stupid and now he will be paying for that mistake. The backlash of this could be non-Bitcoin users

that used that site, being angry at Bitcoin, because Coinbase ratted him out. 

[calkob]

yeah i dont really understand either why someone like that would use a coinbase wallet, you would think that they would be smarter