FBI's undercover $250 Bitcoin payment helps take down alleged corporate hacker

What's the news here?! BTC was never meant for privacy, and it isn't a big FBI achievement that it was tracked through a public record anyone can check. I would be impressed if it was through Monero.

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OutOfHere a day ago | parent [-]

The news is a validation that chain analysis hasn't cracked Monero.

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tamimio a day ago | parent [-]

Pretty much, I don’t even know why they mentioned Monero in the first place in that article, it’s irrelevant to the story, then followed by:

> "The arrest of IntelBroker shows just how far law enforcement has come in the crypto space,"

Woww, guys, there’s no private crypto anymore, big brother is watching you closely!!!

Stupid article.

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OutOfHere a day ago | parent [-]

> there’s no private crypto anymore

There are multiple privacycoins that exist, not limited to Monero, Zcash (with privacy features enabled), and Litecoin (with MWEB enabled). Bitcoin with Lightning Network too indirectly offers privacy, although not as strongly as the rest.

The purpose of a news article is to convey all the facts, which it does.

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tamimio a day ago | parent [-]

I know, duh, I was being sarcastic and referring to what the article is trying to frame.

> to convey all the facts, which it does.

Conveying all facts alone isn't enough, because when you start mixing some facts to influence the reader's interpretation, you are not being honest. I think this is called "priming" in journalism.

>Priming - Introducing certain information early to influence how readers interpret subsequent information, even when the early details aren't directly relevant to the main story.

The article could avoid mentioning Monero altogether, maybe at the end state that he wouldn't have been busted if he had kept using Monero, but they needed to muddy the water to give an illusion to the reader that big brother surveillance is over the top and you should never trust crypto privacy, which is not true.

	▲	OutOfHere a day ago \| parent [-]
		> I was being sarcastic It's best to never use sarcasm online unless it's explicitly declared as such at the time of posting. Your comment will be taken literally. > they needed to muddy the water to give an illusion to the reader that big brother surveillance is over the top and you should never trust crypto privacy This impression was given for Bitcoin, whereas the reverse impression was given for Monero. These are as expected.

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andirk 21 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Can someone explain how a BTC tumbler can fail to obfuscate the history of a certain BTC wallet? Seems like such an easy way to basically blame everyone involved in the tumbler which is not how prosecution works.

A defense counsel tactic similar to this is to put doubt in to _which_ of a handful of individuals did the crime when each is blaming the other, and that doubt is enough to be found not guilty.

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OutOfHere a day ago | parent | prev [-]

The point of note is that Monero kept the person protected.

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ProllyInfamous 21 hours ago | parent | next [-]

Instead of using space heaters, during chilly winters, I mine Monero using `xmrig` (MacPro5,1/VEGA64/Ubuntu). The money would have just turned into heat, anyways (might as well try to win a block/XMR), and the computer is 15+ years old (eWaste).

I know several people IRL that will pay cash for anything scarce. You probably do, too (start asking)...

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chistev a day ago | parent | prev [-]

If I try withdrawing my Monero, I need to convert it to usd, and then withdraw. Can't that process be tracked to me?

	▲	Sayrus a day ago \| parent \| next [-]
		Trade it directly for USD in cash. I'm not sure what the laws are in the US but I don't remember seeing that owning or selling was illegal in any way.
	▲	2OEH8eoCRo0 a day ago \| parent \| prev \| next [-]
		Yes. A friend of mine worked cybercrime and said that was often a weak link- criminals tend to want to enjoy the money which means converting and withdrawing or buying physical things.
	▲	OutOfHere a day ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		Withdrawing it is silly because one can swap and spend it directly on sites that accept cryptocurrencies, as an increasing number of them do accept. Also, even if the withdrawal itself is trackable and taxable, withdrawing it will not reveal your prior transactions which is the point. Pro tip: Do not buy Monero for any amount that you want back as cash.