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

[The Sceptical Chymist]

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

Nah, they provide a legit service and they're required to report this criminal activity to the police--same as every other legitimate business.   Now, I can't stand them because they go a little too far in closing accounts but when I was using them they were definitely reliable.   Other exchanges like Yobit, I have no idea how they're regulated or who runs them.   I wouldn't use coinbase as a wallet, but I trust them more than some of the other exchanges.

[bestluck]

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.

and what do you say about Russia and China? are they also below to US state? I think no they are standing face to face to USA, USA involve in other countries not because others are their bitch, but it is only they work on the legality, otherwise no one allow them to interfere in their state.

[snipie]

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

No transactions fees maybe ? But it is ridiculous to reveal your identity that way
 

Other exchanges like Yobit, I have no idea how they're regulated or who runs them.

Yobit is a Russian website afaik so they don't have any regulations 

[philiveyjr]

He probably was a newbie when it came to bitcoin. Anyways he made a lot of stupid mistakes and could have been one. Even Ross Ulbricht made  a mistake like this when he used him email to as a question on stack exchange, which sort of was what gave him up.

[ronald98]

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?

Apple provided records that show that an iCloud (me.com) account was used to purchase something on iTunes, and that account's IP address also accessed the Kickass Facebook page. Also the iCloud account's email address was used to register a Coinbase account that contained Bitcoin donations from Kickass.

https://www.engadget.com/2016/07/21/kickasstorrents-apple-facebook-homeland-security/

Jared Der-Yeghiayan, a special agent with the US Department of Homeland Security, was tasked with tracking the man behind KAT

...

Der-Yeghiayan was able to link the email address found in the WHOIS lookup to an Apple email address that Vaulin purportedly used to operate KAT. It's this Apple account that appears to tie all of pieces of Vaulin's alleged involvement together.

On July 31st 2015, records provided by Apple show that the me.com account was used to purchase something on iTunes. The logs show that the same IP address was used on the same day to access the KAT Facebook page. After KAT began accepting Bitcoin donations in 2012, $72,767 was moved into a Coinbase account in Vaulin's name. That Bitcoin wallet was registered with the same me.com email address.

[BitMaxz]

If thats the case that coinbase can track or know our ip we are not safe in that wallet.. i thought coinbase is one of the best online wallet..
but now i lost faith in coinbase because of halving issue about pending when i was accidentally send bitcoins from gambling site..
Until now never recover it even its a small amount its precious to me..

[knightkon]

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 

Most people did not really pay attention to the fact that bitcoin addresses and such can be traced.  People do not realize that all bitcoin transactions can be traced back to the mac address and the internet ip address in which it was all accessed.  It could also have been a setup for him.  IDK, but good luck and I am glad i do not use that site.

[LiberOptions]

I hope that his conection with Bitcoin won't bring around a lot of bad advertisement to the industry. Things are going great with bitcoin, and news like these are not very healthy.

[knightkon]

I hope that his conection with Bitcoin won't bring around a lot of bad advertisement to the industry. Things are going great with bitcoin, and news like these are not very healthy.

I would not think that this would bring much attention.  Silk roads or whatever that was called brought attention to the bitcoin, however it was kind of good attention, because more people now know about bitcoin!!

[Anonymoose33]

Does anyone else find it really ironic that the owner of a torrent sharing website, was buying songs on iTunes?

[BigKobasica]

I dont know why kickass admin was using coinbase when coinbase imst really popular bitcoin wallet.Now are popular exchangers for save btv because you can buy many cryptocurrencies and also use like a wallet.

[European Central Bank]

I hope that his conection with Bitcoin won't bring around a lot of bad advertisement to the industry. Things are going great with bitcoin, and news like these are not very healthy.

bitcoin's had appalling press for years on end and it's still trucking. something like this won't make any difference and maybe a few people are gonna wake up to what they let themselves in for when they use big internet companies.

[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

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?

There is no country who does not have a financial law which requires a such license. Take any country, make a search and you will see that a BTC exchanger business (who accept fiat currency) must have a financial license.

More than that, if you want to operate(to have clients) in EU, USA and your company is registered, let's say in China (it can be any country), you must get license in EU or USA(in each State from US) along with the license from China. Hard, right? Yes, it is but it's good for business.It brings trust and the trust is almost everything.

Well, imagine what it feels those who are in good standing, who spent millions of usd to be in compliance with all the laws(the costs are huge for a financial license; you need bonds, you need staff, real office, accountant, auditor and many others) when they see exchangers who are only having a website and nothing more;most of the exchangers are working like that.

The unlicensed exchangers are bringing all the bad image created around BTC. They are the BTC's disease, a cancer.

[pooya87]

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.

who said he wasn't using a VPN? i can't say anything for sure but a simple google search of the two different IP addresses posted in the articles shows one to be from Czech Republic and the other from Ukraine, and then according to the article he was arrested in Poland!

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

No transactions fees maybe ? But it is ridiculous to reveal your identity that way
~~

did you even read the article. let me show you where you are wrong: “Those records reflect that the Subject Account {one of his accounts} received a total of approximately €28,411,357 in deposits between on or about August 28, 2015, and on or about March 10, 2016.”

[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.

and what do you say about Russia and China? are they also below to US state? I think no they are standing face to face to USA, USA involve in other countries not because others are their bitch, but it is only they work on the legality, otherwise no one allow them to interfere in their state.

America is a fucking bully that pressures other countries into allowing what ever they want to do because sane people occupy those other countries. The sane people are afraid of America because America will start shooting drones at them.

Lots of countries have a military force but America enjoys using theirs because they're all loony.

[davis196]

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 

I don`t see anything strange in this.

Internet piracy is illegal and and Coinbase is helping the authorities in their investigation.

Bitcoin being anonymous is one thing,but when it comes to breaking the law,bitcoin wallet platforms should

help the police. This is normal.

[mayax]

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 

I don`t see anything strange in this.

Internet piracy is illegal and and Coinbase is helping the authorities in their investigation.

Bitcoin being anonymous is one thing,but when it comes to breaking the law,bitcoin wallet platforms should

help the police. This is normal.

very good point !

 after you worked a lot(maybe years) to make a software/movie, etc , i don't think you would like to see your hard work all of the internet for free. it's a huge work and only those who are staying/speculating and making nothing can agree with the piracy.

[bitkilo]

This is almost like a dark web drug vendor selling on ebay and having the funds sent to a coinbase account.
Seriously his trying to stay anonymous and uses a fuckin coinbase account, he was asking for what he got.

[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?

Apple provided records that show that an iCloud (me.com) account was used to purchase something on iTunes, and that account's IP address also accessed the Kickass Facebook page. Also the iCloud account's email address was used to register a Coinbase account that contained Bitcoin donations from Kickass.

https://www.engadget.com/2016/07/21/kickasstorrents-apple-facebook-homeland-security/

What a combination lol, I thought apple protect their users data and dont send to other third parties in this case to facebook and coinbase, the mistake here seems to be on the end point in coinbase, if the kickass owner would create bitcoin address on hardware wallet it wouldnt be tracked?!

[Steinar]

Does anyone else find it really ironic that the owner of a torrent sharing website, was buying songs on iTunes?

 

Is that a certainty?