Do you use a VPN? You may be send to prison for a crime someone else committed with that same IP address. A lot of people ask why Roman Sterlingov’s prosecution may be as important as the prosecutions of Roman Storm and the Samourai devs, when one allegedly operated a custodial mixer and the others built a non-custodial software protocol. The answer lies in how Sterlingov was identified as Bitcoin Fog’s operator – and it could happen to anyone. At yesterday’s hearing, judges pushed back against the idea that Sterlingov “likely” operated BF. Why? Because the main piece of evidence tying Sterlingov to BF is an IP address that was used to log into a Liberty Reserve account tied to BF. A few minutes before, Sterlingov had used that same IP address to log into a Liberty Reserve account under his own name. The prosecution argued that it is therefore “likely” that Sterlingov operated BF. But how “likely” is it really? “Likely” is a comparative term, the judges argued yesterday. Could the prosecution present any framework for what constitutes “likely” in this case? It could not: An IP address can be used by tens or thousands of people at the same time when using a public WiFi or a VPN. By how many on average? The prosecution didn't know. Without the IP address tying Sterlingov to the Liberty Reserve account tied to BF, the entire case falls apart: Because the cryptocurrency tracing is also tied to that same IP address – all it shows otherwise is funds from Sterlingov’s KYCed MtGox account flowing to a wallet outside of MtGox, exemplified by the Government with a literal black piggy bank with a question mark. No one knows who that wallet belongs to. From there, the funds flowed back into MtGox, and *numerous* hops later, through several other exchanges, wallets and addresses, test payments had been made to BF. Again: the only evidence tying Sterlingov to BF is that someone with the same IP address logged into an account tied to BF in that chain of payments. That could have been anyone on the same VPN or public WiFi – and it could have been you. According to the Government, ofc there were other "indications" making it "likely" that it was him - such as an email showing that Sterlingov used Liberty Reserve and AurumXchange. If you've been around long enough, you'll know that everyone used AurumXchange. And that everyone used Liberty Reserve. Bc bitcoin was early, and not many services existed. The moral of this story is that if you happen to use the same VPN as a criminal, and you also use the most popular services a criminal uses, the government may send you to prison for over a decade for a crime it finds “likely” you committed with no framework of what “likely” even means. This is the bar for factual evidence this case sets that can be used to send people to prison.

Circuit judges appear to be arguing that mixers are legal in theory, but not in practice: any money sent to them is part of a criminal conspiracy to launder money. Pay fucking attention. View quoted note →

Extremely tired of the constant infantilization of women in this space. Having a vagina does not make you retarded. Maybe a good thing to remember. Happy mothers day.

So in case anyone is wondering, basically the gov says there can be no legal funds in a mixer bc they are in a mixer therefore operating a mixer is not illegal but if you operate a mixer you will be charged with a crime. Hope that clears things up for everyone 👍 View quoted note →

Gm

Scheduling twitter posts over tor browser is so hilarious bc twitter wont let you change the time zone and grabs it from your exit node 2pm greenwich time? No idea what that is, lets go

Iran‘s speaker of Parliament just threatened to blow up anyone who purchases US treasuries. If you think that this sounds crazy, you better not look up what Israel did on Oct 8th.

My @primal bros, can we please get a scheduling feature, por favor mi familia

A lot of people seem to not be aware what a major win for privacy the SEC's interpretation on securities is, so let me spell this out for you. Under Gensler, the SEC attempted to classify digital asset developers as securities broker/dealers. This would have meant that anyone offering digital asset services and software would have needed to register with the SEC and apply KYC/AML programs by law. Similar language has been included in latest market structure proposals, which insufficiently clarified who exactly such registration requirements would apply to. The SEC's interpretation now makes clear: No AML/KYC for bitcoin, at least not under the SEC's authority. Probably the biggest advancement for privacy under this entire administration. View quoted note →

GM

So I had a lobster the past few weeks. Ran on the cheapest model, so he was pretty stupid. Then I let him go on nostr, and he adapted himself based on the content that was getting the most zaps. He became so astronomically retarded that I had to put him down. Im pretty sure this tells us something. RIP Gary 2026-2026

Nostr friends, is there a way to schedule posts on here?

Not to be the one to point the big fat fascism-finger again, but the N*zi regime's use of the banking system to persecute its enemies was literally the only reason that Switzerland codified bank secrecy into law 👍 View quoted note →

Wale up babe, they‘re making up lies about Bitcoin again View quoted note →

If you believe this you are retarded, thank you for your attention to this matter

Gm

Is Claude ok

Writing about all this Epstein stuff is incredibly tiring because people constantly seem to assume that you're on "their side." Fun fact, you can criticize things without generalizing them to an entire group of people 👍