CEO OF BITCOIN EXCHANGE ARRESTED

[Phinnaeus Gage]

Charlie Shrem could be a patsy and the NSA probably spied on him just like every other VIP figure in the BTC Network. It's only a matter of time before they start taking down other high profiles within the community!

Luckily, theymos won't let the NSA or FBI have access to the PM or IP logs of this forum.

I pity the guy with the highest post count.

[jballs]

After watching my little brother go into rehab and come out overweight and sluggish but clean after a Silk Road fueled drug stint, I sympathize with the actions of the government bodies in this case. Knowingly supplying the means to purchase drugs is abhorrent and wrong. That being said, Yankee is a martyr in a philosophical sense and I hope one day we can grant him a Presidential pardon. He is a necessary force in this Universe that has greatly fostered economic equal opportunity and efficiency. Someone had to do the dirty work of the early days of cryptocurrency advocacy.

It is not the obligation of the state to keep your little brother's nose out of a bag of shit. Sorry but until we all snap out of this FUCKING STUPID idea that prohibition works, and is not totally corrupt, and insanely violent, and profoundly wasteful of human life, we are doomed to perpetuate the cycle. Your brother is a junky get him help or let him be a junky. You think his being a junky entitles a paradigm of drug cartels, crooked banks, paramilitary terrorists, billion dollar black budgets, thug street violence, overflowing prisons, and fat cops and fat prison guards on fat pensions telling us they are keeping us safe, sorry your brother is his own problem, and I would rather he just OD'd and took himself out of the gene pool than justify all the disgusting human behavior that prohibition creates. The government isn't helping, they are just price support for the cartels and the enforcement biz. Wake the fuck up please. 42 years of war on drugs, ain't gonna win it, time to change.

[Honeypot]

This shit ain't prohibition. It's tracking down fuckin idiots who think they are internet che guevarras when they can't even take care of themselves.

When prohibition doesn't work, it's time to kill and erase everything. You think prohibition is somekind of an ultimate form of state oppression? LOL this posh ass thinking.

Exactly what I would expect from 1st world retards who believe they know anything about 'government oppression'.

This kid got his ass burned because he thought he could run his shit behind his computer without any repercussions in other people's lives. His was a crime of ignorance and irresponsibility, and now he's paying for it. Crypto can be used for all kinds, certainly as a means to pay off someone for murdering your family.

Who are you all kidding anyway?

[datz]

I would rather he just OD'd and took himself out of the gene pool than justify all the disgusting human behavior that prohibition creates.

You will pay the price for your comments.

[TheButterZone]

I would rather he just OD'd and took himself out of the gene pool than justify all the disgusting human behavior that prohibition creates.

You will pay the price for your comments.

We're all going to pay the price for thinking we have a single shred of liberty. Unless that's a personal threat from you to jballs.

[jballs]

I would rather he just OD'd and took himself out of the gene pool than justify all the disgusting human behavior that prohibition creates.

You will pay the price for your comments.

Take it personal if you want I have plenty of drug addict relatives myself, hell we all do don't we? That is the point. It doesn't work, your brother will either clean up or die or third option rot in prison. It isn't silk road's fault or anyone else's, it's a racket that will always be here and all you do is encourage it by condoning it.

[kik1977]

I would rather he just OD'd and took himself out of the gene pool than justify all the disgusting human behavior that prohibition creates.

You will pay the price for your comments.

Take it personal if you want I have plenty of drug addict relatives myself, hell we all do don't we?

No, I don't. And anyway this doesn't give you the right to offend other people's feeling. Ignore list.

[TheButterZone]

I would rather he just OD'd and took himself out of the gene pool than justify all the disgusting human behavior that prohibition creates.

You will pay the price for your comments.

Take it personal if you want I have plenty of drug addict relatives myself, hell we all do don't we?

No, I don't. And anyway this doesn't give you the right to offend other people's feeling. Ignore list.

No right not to be offended. Right to not be a victim of civil rights violations resulting in death (being a victim of the war "on drugs" aka liberty, even if you have never voluntarily taken a controlled drug in your life), though. Ignore list. 

[digititus]

Divide and conquer. You see how it works? 

I would rather he just OD'd and took himself out of the gene pool than justify all the disgusting human behavior that prohibition creates.

You will pay the price for your comments.....

Take it personal if you want.....

[coinrevo]

The Iran issue with HSBC is even more complicated.

The general way the US government is making its law international law via manipulation of the banking system leaves me deeply unhappy. Yes, it's nonsense that banks have become too big to enforce laws upon and nobody will argue that's a good thing. But in the case of HSBC specifically, the laws that were being enforced look more and more questionable the deeper you go.

For drug prohibition the issues are different but just as complicated.

Interesting. A lot of this goes over leveraging the SWIFT institutions, never mind US power over IMF and Worldbank (and Visa/Mastercard). Its going to be very interesting how the international financial law evolves in connection to offshore tactics. Say there would be a bitcoin friendly country integrating with the worldwide fiat network. I think a lot of this will then determine how bitcoin can be used for things which are done in fiat now.

[cryptoanarchist]

TPTB only have to concoct a fake arrest to scare people from using bitcoin. Use this event as a buying opportunity.

[Bobsurplus]

Did I just read somewhere that they took 25Million in BTC from Charlie??

http://www.abc.net.au/worldtoday/content/2013/s3933146.htm

[cryptoanarchist]

Did I just read somewhere that they took 25Million in BTC from Charlie??

http://www.abc.net.au/worldtoday/content/2013/s3933146.htm

No. Is English your first language?

[Bobsurplus]

Did I just read somewhere that they took 25Million in BTC from Charlie??

http://www.abc.net.au/worldtoday/content/2013/s3933146.htm

No. Is English your first language?

Yes it is, clearly I made a mistake when reading the post. I now see where I went wrong.

But I'm sure they took BTC from Charlie, I have ears and heard it through the grapevine.

[delphic]

Here's a thought:

What the Bitcoin Foundation does about Shrem is their business, not ours.

The Foundation represents no-one but the Foundation. In the broader Bitcoin community, they have no mandate, and have no authority. They were not elected. They were not appointed by a higher authority.

So, for the same reason that they do not represent me, I have no say in how their private organisation rules itself.

However, as parties external to Bitcoin seem to treat them as if they were representative, I wish they would get their house in order or STFU. The allegations made against some of the members, if true, do nothing to help promote Bitcoin in the world, and arguably are ammunition for those who oppose Bitcoin.

Despite what else the Foundation may do to promote Bitcoin, the Foundation may overall be seen as harmful to the interests of Bitcoin because of the alleged conduct of prominent members.

[600watt]

imagine charly s. was trading apples. they busted him because:

he traded apples for dollars with someone,

who allegedly sold those apples to others,

who allegedly used apples to score drugs from others.



the feds are testing levels of support of the bitcoin community. if they get away with this, they own us. every bitcoin can be traced around some corners to silkroad. you are all criminals because some other people like getting high. 

[Minor Miner]

imagine charly s. was trading apples. they busted him because:

he traded apples for dollars with someone,
he then communicated with the apple seller acknowledging that that re-seller of apples was breaking the law and then told him how to continue to break the law.
who allegedly sold those apples to others,  on a website where you can only use apples to buy the "goods" on the same website.
who allegedly used apples to score drugs from others.

FTFY since you may not have read these two pertinent parts of the scheme.

[DeathAndTaxes]

imagine charly s. was trading apples. they busted him because:

he traded apples for dollars with someone,

who allegedly sold those apples to others,

who allegedly used apples to score drugs from others.



the feds are testing levels of support of the bitcoin community. if they get away with this, they own us. every bitcoin can be traced around some corners to silkroad. you are all criminals because some other people like getting high.  

You missing the key components intent and knowledge.  In your example no crime has occurred.  The complaint (and yes it is only one side of the story but lets get that side of the story right) alleges that he KNEW the funds were used in criminal transactions AND WITH INTENT he actively broke his own companies policies in order to facilitate those transactions.

Is it true? I don't know, that is what juries are for.  However your example wouldn't even rise to an arrest warrant.  It is a complete and utter non-crime.

BTW: the war on drugs being stupid is a red herring.   The war on drugs IS stupid, massively wasteful, and ultimately pointless however today those laws are on the books.   One can believe the war on drugs is futile and at the same time understand that breaking those laws (no matter how stupid and pointless they may be) has real consequences from the entity with the guns and a monopoly on the use of lawful violence.
 

[darkmule]

I don't think anyone on this thread has said anything in support of the foolish, doomed, so-called "War on Drugs."  

However, even people who don't support prohibition don't by contrast automatically support all the crime that goes on in the drug trade, and quite reasonably don't want to be represented by people who do.  Like it or not, it does tarnish the name of Bitcoin.  As drug trafficking goes, there's everything from the praiseworthy, like activism for compassionate use, to the selfish but justifiable, like activism for one's own right to smoke whatever the hell you feel like, to the depraved, like murder for hire.  Money laundering for drug dealers to make millions of dollars really isn't on the praiseworthy side of the equation.

It shouldn't be the public face of Bitcoin, and if the BCF can't figure that out, maybe they should be raided.  Just for felony stupidity, if nothing else.  The presence of people like this on the board does nothing but harm Bitcoin.  Maybe not much, especially if they come to be taken less seriously as a result of this kind of foolishness.  I suspect other board members are worried about their own positions if Shrem qualifies for an ouster.

[nodroids]

This is expected. The only threat is from our own developers. Its only internal for us now. Go on weak hands, give me some $540 coin.