[2019-10-10] How the U.S. Government Tried – and Failed – to Shut Down Bitcoin

[Bitcoin_Mafia_Me]

I'm not sure what tickles me more - that the U.S. government thought that it could "take out" Bitcoin, that Ms. Haun
sidestepped its agenda and had the foresight to learn about and understand crypto rather than just knee-jerk reacting,
or the massive contributions she has made to the space since then.



A former federal prosecutor turned Bitcoin proponent has revealed that her boss at the U.S. Attorney’s office asked her
to look into shutting down Bitcoin.

The year was 2012 and Katie Haun, then a federal prosecutor with the U.S. Attorney’s office, didn’t know anything about
Satoshi Nakamoto’s Bitcoin – until she was asked to investigate and “take down” the world’s flagship cryptocurrency.

“They said ‘we have this perfect assignment for you’ – there’s this thing called Bitcoin and we need to investigate it,” Haun
recounted in a recent interview with CNBC.

“That was the first time I’d ever heard of Bitcoin,” she added.

Read in full: https://micky.com.au/how-the-u-s-government-tried-and-failed-to-shut-down-bitcoin/

[CryptoBry]

I would be tickled thinking the three but the last one is really amazing and quite interesting. It is easy to assume, using this narrative, that the government (or rather some personalities working for the government) found out that it is impossible to shut down a decentralized network like Bitcoin but still thanks to the government anyway that unlike China it did not ban the many cryptocurrency exchanges and other crypto-related businesses based in the USA though it is getting stricter everyday and regulatory measures are getting burdensome...the many prices to pay in doing business with the top economy.

No government can ever do against Bitcoin but they can make trading, ownership and doing business with cryptocurrency so difficult if not impossible. As a disruption with the traditional financial and economic system, Bitcoin will naturally attract enemies specially with the regulators and politicians (old guards of the palace). This where the role of the government can be so critical relative to goal of a more widespread use and adoption of Bitcoin.

[DaveWave]

Satoshi Nakamoto being anonymous helped a lot. Maybe bitcoin developers already knew that a crackdown is coming. Being decentralized in nature, there is nothing governments can do to shut down on bitcoin. Not even banning miners and considering it illegal since there are many forms and ways miners can do, the world is big.

Now the US is trying to regulate it to assert control on stake holders. The autocratic Chinese government knowing it cannot control bitcoin did massive bans. Binance for example left China, stood still and now its one of the biggest crypto exchange in the world.

[NeuroticFish]

It's the perfect conspiracy theory, because it cannot be checked. Also can make somebody rather famous. A few shows here and there, a few articles here and there and the person becomes known and may even become influencer or whatever.

Although such scenarios are possible, I would not jump into believing them right away. As said, probably Satoshi is anonymous exactly to avoid this kind of scenarios.. or worse.

[error08]

Satoshi Nakamoto being anonymous helped a lot. Maybe bitcoin developers already knew that a crackdown is coming. Being decentralized in nature, there is nothing governments can do to shut down on bitcoin. Not even banning miners and considering it illegal since there are many forms and ways miners can do, the world is big.

Yeah, Satoshi suddenly disappeared after Gavin Andresen said he was going to talk at the CIA, see it's coming? Satoshi know the right thing to do to avoid any attempt to crack down bitcoin.

Now the US is trying to regulate it to assert control on stake holders. The autocratic Chinese government knowing it cannot control bitcoin did massive bans. Binance for example left China, stood still and now its one of the biggest crypto exchange in the world.

Even if many countries tried to hold bitcoin development, it's unstoppable and there are some bitcoin-friendly countries such as Malta and Liechtenstein. Cryptocurrency will thrives there.

[Carlton Banks]

It's the perfect conspiracy theory, because it cannot be checked.

what

crime

did

Katie Haun

and

the

US Attorney's office

plan

to

commit?

[malevolent]

what

crime

did

Katie Haun

and

the

US Attorney's office

plan

to

commit?

It's in the article, it seems she wised up. But it also says she prosecuted people for 'money laundering', and that can mean a lot.

She wasn't the first person who wanted to go after Bitcoin, a year earlier two US senators tried to do the same thing around the time Gawker published an article about SR:

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-financial-bitcoins/senators-seek-crackdown-on-bitcoin-currency-idUSTRE7573T320110608

[Carlton Banks]

It's in the article, it seems she wised up.

you're equally confused.

Neurotic Fish was suggesting this US Attorney made a plan to commit a crime, I'm saying that wasn't in the article. Despite how prevalent corruption is in US government departments, US Attorneys are usually prosecuting crimes, not planning them

[1Referee]

She wasn't the first person who wanted to go after Bitcoin, a year earlier two US senators tried to do the same thing around the time Gawker published an article about SR:

Not the first not the last. In some cases I doubt it's pure ignorance on their side, because these types have advisors and whatnot doing research for them. Most of them know damn well that Bitcoin can't be shut down. It's more likely an attempt to discourage the common joe from getting started.

What's the first that comes up to most people's mind when they hear/read about Bitcoin for the first time? "Governments, aren't they going to shut it down, etc?"

These are scare attempts in my opinion. I legit had a family member of mine send me a similar article last year because he was worried about the status of Bitcoin. The price was going down as well, which he thought was the main reason. Look at the current timing of this article. It's no longer coincidence.

[Sithara007]

I won't be very surprised if this is true. Back in 2011, Wikileaks started accepting donations in BTC to stay online (the FBI tad taken down all the other methods of funding). The Americans tried really hard to block BTC donations to Wikileaks, but they failed. That was when they realized that Bitcoin can pose a real challenge to their authority. They might have tried 51% attack or some other method, but in the end they failed to destroy Bitcoin. And now Bitcoin has grown too big and I really doubt whether the FBI can do anything about it.

[Kyraishi]

I won't be very surprised if this is true. Back in 2011, Wikileaks started accepting donations in BTC to stay online (the FBI tad taken down all the other methods of funding). The Americans tried really hard to block BTC donations to Wikileaks, but they failed. That was when they realized that Bitcoin can pose a real challenge to their authority. They might have tried 51% attack or some other method, but in the end they failed to destroy Bitcoin. And now Bitcoin has grown too big and I really doubt whether the FBI can do anything about it.

Exactly what I thought off. This doesn't feel that far-fetched to some of the other stuff we know the US government has done and the wikileaks incident was the one I thought of as well, they tried so hard to block them from getting donations but it never worked out.

Katie Huan seems like a real piece of work, going after people for basically nothing... She should be arrested for sure.

[hatshepsut93]

The title makes it sound like the US government attacked Bitcoin, but Bitcoin withstood and they had to give up on their attempt, but in reality it's just one person in the government asked another person to investigate Bitcoin to "shut it down". So, the US government hasn't failed or even actually tried to shut down Bitcoin.

[gentlemand]

The title makes it sound like the US government attacked Bitcoin, but Bitcoin withstood and they had to give up on their attempt, but in reality it's just one person in the government asked another person to investigate Bitcoin to "shut it down". So, the US government hasn't failed or even actually tried to shut down Bitcoin.

The first thing most people would do when looking at something new and potentially powerful is to investigate whether it has any glaring weaknesses. This article doesn't mention that. Or any 'shut down'. My ring piece could eject something more rigourous and readable.

[NeuroticFish]

what
crime
did
Katie Haun
and
the
US Attorney's office
plan
to
commit?

Like in many conspiracy theories, everything is written in a shady manner.
The title tells "has revealed that her boss at the U.S. Attorney’s office asked her to look into shutting down Bitcoin"(*)
The "there’s this thing called Bitcoin and we need to investigate it"(*) part can be seen as a something normal or, if your head is conspiracy-oriented, can mean the introduction to anything bad you can imagine.
The article continues in a "conspirationistic" manner "While the U.S. Department of Justice’s (DOJ) goal may have been to shut it down"(*)

As people that understand (better or worse) Bitcoin, we know that Bitcoin cannot be "taken down" like this. Hence no crime. Still, it has all the ingredients for a conspiracy theory.
(Just as a clearer analogy: everybody who knows a tiny bit of physics understands that Earth is not flat and cannot be flat, still this doesn't stop the growing club of flat-earthers.)

I don't understand where the confusion was/is.

[Carlton Banks]

Like in many conspiracy theories, everything is written in a shady manner.
The title tells "has revealed that her boss at the U.S. Attorney’s office asked her to look into shutting down Bitcoin"(*)
The "there’s this thing called Bitcoin and we need to investigate it"(*) part can be seen as a something normal or, if your head is conspiracy-oriented, can mean the introduction to anything bad you can imagine.
The article continues in a "conspirationistic" manner "While the U.S. Department of Justice’s (DOJ) goal may have been to shut it down"(*)

As people that understand (better or worse) Bitcoin, we know that Bitcoin cannot be "taken down" like this. Hence no crime. Still, it has all the ingredients for a conspiracy theory.
(Just as a clearer analogy: everybody who knows a tiny bit of physics understands that Earth is not flat and cannot be flat, still this doesn't stop the growing club of flat-earthers.)

I don't understand where the confusion was/is.

do you understand how to answer a simple, 1 dimensional question? you're so confused, you don't even know what you're confused about


what crime was committed? you seem to think there was, what was it?

[NeuroticFish]

what crime was committed? you seem to think there was, what was it?

No! What I saidmeant is that some can imply that.

Edit: and my long post was exactly to make you understand what I meant.
More edit: the beauty of a conspiracy theory is into making people believe that something happened (or could have happened), even if nothing did happen.

[Carlton Banks]

the beauty of a conspiracy theory is into making people believe that something happened (or could have happened), even if nothing did happen.

a conspiracy means "plan a criminal act", not "crazy story"


if it means "crazy story", it would be a brilliant legal defense in a court case.

Judge: "Mr. Neurotic Fish, you are charged with conspiracy to commit murder, how do you plead?"
NeuroticFish: "Oh please, you're prosecuting me with a theory, about a conspiracy? You can't be serious!"

Presumably you also think you'd win such a court case like that?


if "conspiracy" means "fake bullshit" all of a sudden, the court system and the legal system need to change what their definition of that word is, and they need to do it quickly.


Or, maybe you could just, I dunno, learn what words mean before you use them?

[rodel caling]

I believe total banned to all US territory is possible, but not bitcoin shutting down world wide, because until people and a lot of countries supporting bitcoin as legal and allowing it to use and treat as new form of money nobody can stop it being decentralized currency. And people are have an owndecision either he/she a US citizen have an rights to get envolve as bitcoin holder anonymously.

[hello_good_sir]

what crime was committed? you seem to think there was, what was it?

No! What I saidmeant is that some can imply that.

Edit: and my long post was exactly to make you understand what I meant.
More edit: the beauty of a conspiracy theory is into making people believe that something happened (or could have happened), even if nothing did happen.

No. There wasn't an "implyed crime", there was just no crime at all. It was simply just a blurring of lines by the US goverment, and they made regular transactions seem like illegal, money laundering transactions and attempted to act on that.

Pretty shit for the goverment to do, it's actually really sad they would go to such lengths to shut this down.

[NeuroticFish]

Or, maybe you could just, I dunno, learn what words mean before you use them?

conspiracy theory
NOUN
A belief that some covert but influential organization is responsible for an unexplained event.

So "crazy story" can fit well in the description.



However, I don't want to argue more on this, I can accept that since English is not my mother tongue I do make mistakes.
If it makes you feel better @Carlton Banks, I apologize for creating confusion by not using the expression in its strict meaning. Lesson learned, I'll be more careful with this.