The US just recommended a 30-year prison sentence for alleged Bitcoin Fog operator Roman Sterlingov. Sterlingov's case became known as the case to "put cryptocurrency tracing on trial", as much of the evidence presented was collected using Chainalysis' blockchain analysis software Reactor – The prosecution "haven’t pointed to any smoking-gun digital evidence retrieved from Sterlingov’s possessions or devices", as WIRED reported following Sterlingov's arrest. Chainalysis described Sterlingov's guilty verdict as setting precedent for "Chainalysis blockchain analytics being used by prosecutors as evidence when they take criminals to court", arguing that the verdict "affirms the ways in which our solutions have become the industry standard, made possible by our partners in government who use our tools everyday to fight illicit activity". The only problem: experts believe that the government's got the wrong guy, and that the jury has convicted a user of Bitcoin Fog as its operator – arguing that Chainalysis' tools are "flawed" and "shouldn't be trusted to convict defendants when they face decades in prison". 2024 is the year of dangerous precedents in which not just your right to privacy is on the line, but the very question of how much science matters in a court of law when it comes to BTC. All the tea:

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If justice were the pursuit, all senior leadership of the U.S. DOJ would be given 30 years.
Dangerous precedent.
L0la L33tz's avatar L0la L33tz
The US just recommended a 30-year prison sentence for alleged Bitcoin Fog operator Roman Sterlingov. Sterlingov's case became known as the case to "put cryptocurrency tracing on trial", as much of the evidence presented was collected using Chainalysis' blockchain analysis software Reactor – The prosecution "haven’t pointed to any smoking-gun digital evidence retrieved from Sterlingov’s possessions or devices", as WIRED reported following Sterlingov's arrest. Chainalysis described Sterlingov's guilty verdict as setting precedent for "Chainalysis blockchain analytics being used by prosecutors as evidence when they take criminals to court", arguing that the verdict "affirms the ways in which our solutions have become the industry standard, made possible by our partners in government who use our tools everyday to fight illicit activity". The only problem: experts believe that the government's got the wrong guy, and that the jury has convicted a user of Bitcoin Fog as its operator – arguing that Chainalysis' tools are "flawed" and "shouldn't be trusted to convict defendants when they face decades in prison". 2024 is the year of dangerous precedents in which not just your right to privacy is on the line, but the very question of how much science matters in a court of law when it comes to BTC. All the tea:
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I recognize the Council has made a decision. But given that it's a stupid-ass decision, I’ve elected to ignore it Jokes aside the legal precedent here would have far reaching consequences
L0la L33tz's avatar L0la L33tz
The US just recommended a 30-year prison sentence for alleged Bitcoin Fog operator Roman Sterlingov. Sterlingov's case became known as the case to "put cryptocurrency tracing on trial", as much of the evidence presented was collected using Chainalysis' blockchain analysis software Reactor – The prosecution "haven’t pointed to any smoking-gun digital evidence retrieved from Sterlingov’s possessions or devices", as WIRED reported following Sterlingov's arrest. Chainalysis described Sterlingov's guilty verdict as setting precedent for "Chainalysis blockchain analytics being used by prosecutors as evidence when they take criminals to court", arguing that the verdict "affirms the ways in which our solutions have become the industry standard, made possible by our partners in government who use our tools everyday to fight illicit activity". The only problem: experts believe that the government's got the wrong guy, and that the jury has convicted a user of Bitcoin Fog as its operator – arguing that Chainalysis' tools are "flawed" and "shouldn't be trusted to convict defendants when they face decades in prison". 2024 is the year of dangerous precedents in which not just your right to privacy is on the line, but the very question of how much science matters in a court of law when it comes to BTC. All the tea:
View quoted note →
So his crime was supposedly being the operator on Bitcoin Fog but they couldn’t prove it beyond a reasonable doubt? He should be innocent if there is a slightest hint of doubt. Our justice system is broken
I'm not one to usually call things a conspiracy, but this conviction reeks of it. No legitimate jury should have been able to convict him as the operator on chainalysis data alone.
Rule of law is a cruel joke being fucked by a malignant swindle. As administered by all governments and states, some more cynically perverse than others but all driven by greed and lust for power.
Teboho's avatar
Teboho 1 year ago
"such organizations are sometimes found to exceed their mandate, potentially leading to censorship and suppression of legitimate dissent."
🤔 > According to a supplemental expert report conducted by the Mastercard-owned blockchain analysis firm Ciphertrace, Ciphertrace had found "discrepancy rates between Ciphertrace and Chainalysis attribution data upwards of 60%", and an error rate "upwards of 64%" for the behavioral heuristic. Ciphertrace noted that, in the Sterlingov case, "over 527,000 Bitcoin Fog addresses" were clustered by Chainalysis using the behavioral heuristic, and that "Ciphertrace does not utilize Heuristic 2 (behavioral) because it is inaccurate, error-prone, and over inclusive". Ciphertrace's report concluded that "Chainalysis attribution data should not be used in court for this case nor any other case: it has not been audited, the model has not been validated, nor has the collection trail been identified".
The two lawyers who are defending him have been on podcasts (wbd, tftc) and mentioned ways to fund. Should be able to find it with good queries.
I can’t wait to go live in a second or third World country. It’s just getting retarded in the first. We can only hope societal breakdown as swift and painless for most. Probably gonna be the opposite. Seriously, feel like I’m going to have to escape the USA at some point
It’s a horrible precedent and the equivalent of “source: trust me bro” except it’s in court
I have a theoretical (I think about it a fair bit) 1) how hard would it be to leave ur extended family and friends and move to another country? 2) where would u go? 3) would u establish citizenship? renounce US citizenship? come back to states every 6 months for a few days/weeks? 4) any details (climate, safety, attitude of population to Americans, etc) about said country would be much appreciated Seems strange how often I’ve thought about this in the last 5 years…but we live in strange times